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PRACTICAL     HANDBOOK 

OF 

MODERN  LIBRARY 
CATALOGING 


By 
WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP,  A.M. 

Superintendent  of  the  Reading  Boom 
Library  of  Congress 


BALTIMORE 

WILLIAMS  &  WILKINS  CO. 

1914 


r.  Q 


8955 


Copyright,  1914 

BY 

Wm.  Wakner  Bishop 


DEDICATED 
TO 

MY  MOTHER 


PREFACE 

In  setting  examinations  in  library  science,  in- 
cluding cataloging,  for  the  United  States  Civil  Serv- 
ice Commission  for  several  years,  I  was  constantly 
struck  by  the  absence  in  our  professional  literature 
of  any  manual  of  the  actual  practice  of  cataloging. 
There  are  numerous  codes  of  rules  and  articles  on 
the  theory  of  cataloging.  But  something  which 
should  tell  a  student  of  library  administration  just 
what  has  to  be  done  under  modern  conditions  and 
why  it  should  be  done  seemed  lacking.  I  have 
accordingly  written  this  brief  handbook  in  an 
endeavor  to  supply  this  need. 

To  librarians  and  catalogers  trained  in  their 
work  by  long  years  of  service  much  of  what  is  here 
set  forth  will  doubtless  seem  very  obvious  and 
commonplace.  I  have  had  constantly  in  mind  two 
sorts  of  persons  by  whom  librarians  have  been 
much  besought  for  years  past  for  information  as 
to  "how  to  do  it."  One  group — and  by  far  the 
larger — is  composed  of  young  people  entering  on 
the  professional  study  of  library  processes  either 
in  library  schools  or  without  formal  instruction. 
The  other  is  the  comparatively  small,  but  actually 
large,  number  of  persons  who  for  one  reason  or 
another  find  themselves  charged  with  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  work  of  a  library  without  having 

5 


6  PREFACE 

themselves  served  an  apprenticeship  in  all  its 
branches.  The  point  of  view  in  this  little  book  is 
throughout  that  of  the  administration  of  the  library 
as  a  whole,  rather  than  that  of  the  conduct  of  cata- 
loging work  alone. 

Modern  American  cataloging  practice  is  based  on 
the  printed  card  supplied  from  a  central  bureau — 
at  present  the  Card  Section  of  the  Library  of  Con- 
gress. Over  six  hundred  thousand  titles  are  now 
available,  and  the  number  grows  by  over  fifty 
thousand  a  year.  Naturally  this  fundamental 
principle  of  modern  cataloging  is  absent  from  both 
the  older  works  on  cataloging  and  library  economy, 
and  the  British  and  foreign  treatises  on  those  sub- 
jects. But  even  the  present  large  supply  is  not 
yet  equal  to  the  demand — so  diverse  are  the  con- 
tents of  our  libraries.  Hence  the  process  of  making 
cards  in  each  library  for  all  books  added — formerly 
universal — still  requires  description  and  study. 

The  final  chapter  on  Subject  Headings  is  the 
only  venture  in  the  book  into  the  realm  of  cata- 
loging theory,  justifiable,  it  was  thought,  because 
of  the  dearth  of  books  on  this  most  important 
branch  of  cataloging. 

I  have  been  greatly  aided  by  the  criticisms  of 
Miss  Agnes  Van  Valkenburgh,  instructor  in  cata- 
loging in  the  Library  School  of  the  New  York 
Pubhc  Library,  and  of  Dr.  G.  E.  Wire,  Deputy 
Librarian  of  the  Worcester  County  Law  Library, 


PREFACE  7 

Worcester,  Mass.,  who  have  kindly  read  the  manu- 
script. Of  course  they  are  in  no  way  chargeable  for 
the  opinions  set  forth.  I  desire  to  express  to  them 
my  hearty  thanks  for  their  courtesy  in  thus  aiding 
me. 

William  Warner  Bishop. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
April  15,  1914. 


/^ 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Chapter  I.    Brief  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Li- 
brary Cataloging    11 

Ancient  and  mediaeval  libraries — Catalogs  in 
book  form — Ledger  catalogs — Catalogs  of  great 
libraries — American  library  catalogs — Card  form 
— Earlier  type — Printed  catalog  cards — Library 
of  Congress  printed  cards. 

Chapter  II.    Rooms  and  Equipment 19 

y^ootns — Location,    floor    plan — Furniture,    ma- 
i^chinerv.  etc.— Card  cases  and  shelves— Reference 
V(f  books-^Cards — Size — Weigllt  and'  quality — Ruling 
— Gifit^e  cards. 

Chapter  III.    Planning  the  Catalog 33 

Number  and  kinds  of  catalogs.     "Unit"  card — 
Official  catalog — Full  or  short  catalogs — Forms  of 
catalogs — Dictionary,  classed,  alphabetic-classed. 
Decision. 
Chapter   IV.     Organization   of    the    Cataloging 

V   ,  Force 50 

Head  cataloger — Revision — Assignment  and 
specializing  —  Statistics  —  Budget  —  Qualifications 
of  catalogers — Salaries — Hours. 

Chapter  V.    Use  of  Printed  Catalog  Cards 63 

Twe4iind&-of  modern- practree — Catalog  rules — 
Cards— Pri»t»4xaTdsirQiEjll.eJU4M--ary  of  Congress. 
Number  needed — Ordering — Accounting — Order- 
ing when  book  is  ordered — "Traveling  Catalogs" — 
Scope  of  Library  of  Congress  stock — Printed  cards 
from  other  libraries — Use  in  the  library. 

9 


10  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  VI.    Cataloging  Method 78 

Rules  and  decisions — Codes — Guides — Decisions 
— Old  entries  and  new  rules — Decisions  on  subject 
headings — Unit  card — Routine  — Assignment  — 
Main  entry — Title — Edition — Imprint — Collation 
— Notes — Contents — Evaluation — Series  cards — 
Analyticals  — Added  entries  — Copying  —  Hecto- 
graph, Flexotype,  Typewriter,  Hand  copying — Fil- 
ing— Arrangement — Guide  cards. 

Chapter  VII.    Subject  Headings Ill 

Introduction — Uniformity  in  rules — Simplicity — 
Uniformity  in  treatment — Practice — Changes  in 
nomenclature  — Definition  — Encyclopaedias  as 
models — Specific  headings — Class  headings — Re- 
gion or  subject — Ethnic  adjective — Inversion — 
Geographical  headings — Ancient  and  modern  re- 
gional names — Period  divisions  under  country — 
Misnomers — Subjects  having  an  old  and  a  modern 
literature — Arrangement  by  period — Number  of 
cards  to  a  book — Revision — Official  list. 


Chapter  I 

BRIEF  SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  LIBRARY 
CATALOGING 

We  have  practically  no  knowledge  of  the  details 
of  administration  of  the  libraries  of  the  ancients. 
That  they  had  catalogs  is  inherent  in  the  nature  of 
things.  There  are  a  few  references  to  lists,  such 
as  the  irlvaKis  of  the  celebrated  Alexandrian  library, 
but  no  description  on  which  we  may  base  any 
statement  of  method  in  either  Greek  or  Roman 
libraries.^  The  catalogs  that  remain  to  us  of 
mediaeval  libraries  were  printed  by  Becker  at  Bonn 
in  1885.  Those  prior  to  the  thirteenth  century 
Becker  gave  in  full;  later  catalogs  he  merely  listed 
by  title  with  indications  of  the  places  where  they 
were  printed.^ 

With  the  invention  of  printing  and  the  consequent 
rapid  growth  of  libraries  both  in  number  and  size, 
catalogs  of  libraries  in  book  form  began  to  appear 

'  The  well  known  passage  in  Quintilian,  Instil.  Oral,  x, 
1,  57,  is  frequently  cited  as  proving  the  use  of  catalogs  in 
Roman  libraries. 

2  Becker,  Gustav.  Catalog!  bibliothecarum  antiqui.  I. 
Catalog!  saeculo  xiii  vetustiores.  II.  Catalogus  catalog- 
orum  posterioris  aetatis.  Bonnae,  apud  Max  Cohen  et 
Filium  (Fr.  Cohen).    A.  mdccclxxxv.    p.  iv,  229. 

11 


12  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

and  have  continued  to  the  present  day.  Despite 
their  number — which  is  legion — few,  if  any,  of  the 
earUer  printed  hbrary  catalogs  have  much  signifi- 
cance as  models  at  the  present  day.  In  general  it 
may  be  said  that  (with  a  few  notable  exceptions) 
the  great  libraries  were  unable  to  publish  catalogs 
revealing  their  contents  in  full.  Manuscript  entries 
in  various  styles  of  ledgers  were  commonly  resorted 
to  as  a  means  of  providing  an  index  to  the  collec- 
tions. Catalogs  of  special  collections,  as  those  of 
mediaeval  manuscripts,  were  more  frequently 
entrusted  to  print.  This  is  the  plan  still  prevailing 
in  many  libraries  of  distinction  on  the  continent  of 
Europe — a  book  (or  ledger)  catalog  with  entries  in 
writing  for  the  general  collection,  and  printed  cata- 
logs of  those  portions  which  because  of  their  value 
or  their  form  demand  special  treatment. 

In  England  and  later  in  America  it  became  the 
fashion  for  public  and  subscription  libraries  to 
print  brief  catalogs  of  their  books.  Of  course  such 
catalogs  required  supplements  at  frequent  intervals. 
The  book  catalog — frequently  exhibiting  the  brief- 
est form  of  entry — was  the  typical  library  publi- 
cation up  to  the  third  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Our  older  libraries  possess  scores  of 
them — useful  as  finding-lists  at  the  time  issued — 
but  too  often  curiosities  with  but  slight  historical 
value  a  couple  of  decades  later. 

The  convenience  of  the  catalog  in  book  form  has 


HISTORY   OF   LIBRARY   CATALOGING  13 

been,  and  always  will  be,  its  chief  merit.  Certain 
very  notable  achievements  marked  this  fashion  of 
recording  a  library's  contents.  Chief  of  these  is 
the  great  Catalogue  of  Printed  Books  of  the  British 
Museum.^ 

The  high  authority  of  this  catalog,  based  on 
Panizzi's  "Rules,"  and  the  wealth  of  the  library 
revealed  by  its  pages  have  made  it  the  one  great 
and  indispensable  cataloging  tool  for  librarians  and 
literary  students  the  world  over.  But — very  sig- 
nificantly— it  stops  with  the  year  1899.  The 
annual  accessions  catalog  goes  on,  as  do  the  numer- 
ous special  catalogs. 

The  Bibliotheque  Nationale  of  France  has  at- 
tempted the  publication  of  a  catalog  of  authors  on 
a  similar  scale.  But  though  begun  in  1897,  the 
Catalogue  general  des  livres  imprimes  has  reached 
but  the  end  of  the  letter  E  in  fifty  large  volumes. 
The  cost  in  time  and  money  of  such  an  enterprise 
is  too  vast  for  any  but  a  national  treasury. 

In  this  country  the  most  notable  printed  catalogs 
in  book  form  have  been  those  of  the  Boston  Athe- 
naeum,^ the  Astor  Library,  the  Peabody  Institute  of 

'  Catalogue  of  Printed  Books  in  the  Library  of  the  British 
Museum.  London,  W.  Clowes  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1881-1900; 
Supplement,  1900-1906. 

*  Boston  Athenaeum.  Catalogue  of  the  Library,  1807- 
1871.    5  vols.,  by  Charles  A.  Cutter. 

Peabody  Institute,  Baltimore .    Catalogue  of  the  Library 


14  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

Baltimore,  the  Surgeon  General's  Library,  and  the 
Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburgh. 

To  these  should  perhaps  be  added  the  excellent 
catalogs  of  the  Brooklyn  Library  and  of  the  Detroit 
Public  Library.  The  latter  affords  an  admirable 
example  of  the  difficulties  under  which  this  form  of 
catalog  labors.  Published  originally  in  1889  with 
some  1100  pages  (exclusive  of  fiction  and  French 
and  German  books),  it  sufiiced  (with  annual  lists 
of  additions)  until  1894,  when  a  supplement  of 
almost  900  pages  was  required.  In  1899  appeared 
a  second  supplement  of  860  pages  bringing  the  list 
down  to  1898.  Already  there  were  three  places 
in  which  to  look  for  books  by  a  given  author  or  on 
a  given  topic.  The  expense  of  editing  and  printing 
such  a  series  becomes  prohibitive  exactly  as  its 
usefulness  as  a  timely  working  tool  diminishes. 
"  The  Card  Catalog  is  a  development  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  although  it  was  known  in  France 

of  the  Peabody  Institute.  5  vols.  Baltimore,  1883-92. 
Second  Catalogue,  8  vols.     1896-1905. 

Astor  Library,  New  York.  Catalogue.  5  vols.  New 
York,  1857-1866.  Continuation,  4  vols.  Cambridge,  1886- 
1888. 

U.  S.  Surgeon-General's  OflBce.  Library.  Index-Cata- 
logue of  the  Library.  16  vols.  Washington,  1880-1895. 
Second  series,  18  vols.     [A-Tz]     1896-1913. 

Pittsburgh,  Carnegie  Library.  Classified  catalogue, 
1895-1902.  3  vols.  Pittsburgh,  1907.  1902-1906,  5  vols. 
Pittsburgh,  1907-1908.     1907-1911,  6  vols.,  1912-1913. 


HISTORY   OF   LIBRARY   CATALOGING  15 

in  the  eighteenth.  Its  rapid  spread  and  adoption 
in  libraries  and  commercial  institutions  (to  an  even 
greater  extent  than  in  libraries)  is  one  of  the  most 
significant  features  of  modern  library  history. 
Practically  all  American  libraries  of  importance 
use  the  card  form  of  catalog,  even  when  they  also 
publish  extensive  book  catalogs. 

The  earlier  manuals  and  rules  of  cataloging  were 
all  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  cataloger  who 
made  the  first  entry  for  a  book  would  also  make  all 
the  additional  entries,  i.e.,  subject  cards,  reference 
cards,  title  cards,  etc.  Consequently  in  order  to 
save  the  time  of  the  cataloger,  (perhaps  also  with  a 
view  to  saving  manual  labor  and  time  of  subordi- 
nate helpers  in  the  library,  and  even  the  reader's 
time  and  strength),  the  various  cards  for  different 
purposes  varied  in  fullness,  the  main  entry  card 
being  generally  the  fullest.  The  other  cards  were 
shortened  by  the  omission  of  certain  details.  Thus 
one  card  only  would  bear  all  the  information  nec- 
essary to  the  complete  identification  of  a  book, 
while  the  other  (shorter)  cards  would,  it  was 
thought,  serve  most  practical  purposes. 

The  chief  defects  of  this  method  lay  in  the  time 
consumed  in  manufacturing  cards  (even  with  these 
devices  for  shortening  the  processes  and  the  drudg- 
ery) on  the  part  of  a  trained  specialist  in  cataloging, 
the  time  expended  in  the  necessary  revision  of  the 
manual   work  of  reproduction  (whether  done  by 


16  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

pen  or  typewriter),  and  finally  the  time  necessarily 
lost  by  readers  in  consulting  the  catalog  even  when 
the  plainest  "library  hand"  or  the  best  typewriters 
were  employed.  Libraries,  though  progressive 
enough  to  use  the  card  catalog,  had  not  emerged 
into  the  era  of  printing  for  this  record  of  their 
contents.  The  issue  had  ordinarily  been  a  clear 
one.  Either  a  printed  catalog  in  book  form  which 
was  generally  out  of  date  before  publication,  and 
whose  cost  was  prohibitive  for  institutions  hard 
pressed  for  funds  by  development  in  directions 
other  than  cataloging — or  else  a  card  catalog,  easily 
kept  up  to  date  and  manufactured  at  practically 
the  cost  of  preparing  copy  for  the  printer,  but  some- 
what clumsy  of  operation  and  necessarily  less 
quickly  scanned  than  the  printed  page.^ 

Everything  pointed  to  substituting  printed  card 
catalogs  for  printed  book  catalogs,  particularly  in 
libraries  which  needed  to  use  many  entries  for  each 
book,  not  alone  in  their  pubhc  card  catalogs,  but 
in  "official"  catalogs,  shelf -Usts,  accession  records, 
binding  lists,  serial  records,  and  the  like.  Theorists 
had  pointed  out  as  early  as  1851,^  that  a  printed 

^  An  additional  drawback  to  the  card  catalog,  long  felt 
in  scholarly  libraries,  was  the  fact  that  on  the  standard 
size  card  adopted  soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Amer- 
ican Library  Association  in  1876  there  was  frequently  not 
space  for  the  detailed  written  description  of  a  book. 

^  Jewett,  Charles  Coffin.     A  plan  for  stereotyping  cata- 


HISTORY   OF  LIBRARY  CATALOGING  17 

card  was  the  logical  accompaniment  of  the  printed 
book.  Efforts  were  made  by  the  Library  Bureau 
in  the  early  nineties  to  make  the  supplying  of 
printed  catalog  cards  a  commercial  possibility,  but 
with  only  indifferent  success.  Various  American 
libraries  began  printing  cards  for  their  own  use 
between  1890  and  1900.  The  American  Library 
Association  undertook  through  its  Publishing 
Board  to  supply  printed  cards  for  certain  sets  and 
serials.  Finally  the  Library  of  Congress,  which 
had  begun  in  1899  to  print  cards  for  copyrighted 
books,  undertook  in  1901  to  apply  this  method  not 
alone  to  copyright  entries  but  to  all  its  books,  and 
to  sell  its  cards  to  other  libraries.  Thus  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress  became  in  effect  a  central  cata- 
loging bureau  for  the  United  States — and  for  other 

logues  by  separate  titles,  and  for  forming  a  general  stereo- 
typed catalogue  of  public  libraries  of  the  United  States. 
Washington,  1851.  (Proceedings  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  August,  1850.) 

Jewett,  Charles  CofRn.  On  the  construction  of  cata- 
logues of  libraries,  and  of  a  general  catalogue:  and  their 
publication  by  means  of  separate,  stereotyped  titles.  With 
rules  and  examples.  Washington,  Smithsonian  Institution, 
1852. 

Cf.  also  Jahr,  Torstein,  and  Strohm,  Adam  Julius. 
Bibliography  of  cooperative  cataloguing  and  the  printing 
of  catalogue  cards,  with  incidental  references  to  interna- 
tional bibliography  and  the  Universal  catalogue,  (1850- 
1902).  In  Report  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  1902.  App. 
vi,  p.  109-224, 


18  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

countries — so  far  as  its  cards  met  the  needs  of  other 
libraries. 

The  initial  stages  were  not  wholly  easy,  and  were 
marked  by  delays  and  difficulties  incident  both  to 
the  establishment  of  a  new  enterprise,  the  agree- 
ment on  a  new  code  of  rules,  and  the  prosecution 
of  a  cataloging  and  classifying  task  of  unparalleled 
magnitude.  For  the  Library  of  Congress  had 
undertaken  the  systematic  treatment  of  its  entire 
collections,  numbering  some  800,000  volumes  in 
1899,  and  its  annual  accessions,  which  were  about 
30,000  volumes  at  that  date,  but  soon  sprang  to 
over  100,000  a  year.  But  the  work,  once  thor- 
oughly established  and  a  routine  elaborated,  has 
developed  to  a  point  where  the  purchase  and  use 
of  printed  catalog  cards  from  the  Card  Section  of 
the  Library  of  Congress  is  the  order  of  the  day  in 
practically  all  libraries  of  any  size  in  the  country, 
as  well  as  in  many  in  Canada.  Probably  in  the 
near  future  further  developments  in  the  direction 
of  cooperative  cataloging  may  be  expected.  It  is 
entirely  possible  that  within  a  couple  of  decades  one 
may  buy  standard  size  printed  cards  for  any  modern 
book  at  the  time  the  book  is  bought. 


Chapter  II 

ROOMS  AND  EQUIPMENT 

THE   CATALOGING   ROOMS 

In  an  old  building  adapted  for  library  use  the 
rooms  devoted  to  cataloging  must  frequently  be 
inconvenient  in  shape  and  badly  placed  with  refer- 
ence to  the  other  activities  of  the  library.  But 
even  in  such  uncomfortable  cases  a  proper  planning 
of  the  available  space  with  regard  to  light,  location 
of  desks  and  apparatus,  book  shelves,  and  the  Uke 
may  aid  in  making  the  most  of  circumstances. 
Such  provisions  for  the  comfort  of  the  staif  and  the 
speed  of  the  work  as  are  possible  in  a  new  structure 
may  be  at  least  approximated  by  careful  and  in- 
genious supervision.  Attention  to  the  details  dis- 
cussed in  this  chapter  may,  then,  result  in  a  decided 
improvement  of  arrangements  in  old  and  not  wholly 
comfortable  quarters. 

In  new  buildings  various  elements  enter  into  the 
location  of  the  catalog  rooms  and  the  shape  and 
size  to  be  given  them.  The  tendency  to  curtail 
working  space  has  proven  unfortunate  again  and 
again.  While  it  is  impossible  to  forecast  with 
accuracy  the  future  of  cataloging  in  any  given 
library,  it  seems  highly  improbable  that  the  relative 
number  of  catalogers  in  proportion  to  the  whole 

19 


20  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

force  is  likely  to  be  greatly  diminished  with  the 
progress  of  cooperative  cataloging.  It  would  be 
safer  to  err  on  the  side  of  generosity  in  the  space 
accorded  to  the  cataloging  force.  If  a  library  now 
has  ten  or  a  dozen  persons  employed  in  cataloging 
work,  it  will  be  well  to  plan  for  at  least  fifteen  per- 
sons in  providing  space  in  a  new  building.  This 
is  a  conservative  estimate.  Many  libraries  have 
found  themselves  hampered  by  cramped  and  crowded 
cataloging  rooms  within  a  year  or  two  of  entering 
on  the  use  of  new  buildings  supposedly  adequate 
for  decades  to  come.  A  new  building  usually 
means  increased  use,  enlargement  of  resources, 
and  hence  a  larger  staff. 

Location  of  Room.  The  catalog  room  should  of 
course  be  near  the  other  rooms  assigned  to  the  work- 
ing force  which  prepares  books  for  the  shelves.  It 
should,  if  possible,  be  part  of  a  series  of  rooms  de- 
voted to  this  purpose  and  on  the  same  floor  with 
the  order  clerks,  classifiers,  and  shelf -listers,  etc. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  advisable  to  have  the  catalog 
room  not  far  removed  from  the  public  catalog.  It 
is  inevitable  that  there  shall  be  much  going  to  and 
fro  between  the  two,  and  the  shorter  the  distance 
the  less  the  time  lost.  The  catalog  room  should 
also  be  convenient  to  the  book  stacks  and  it  is  very 
desirable  that  entrance  from  it  to  the  stacks  be  had 
without  passing  through  reading  rooms  or  public 
corridors.     Moreover   as   much   natural   light   as 


ROOMS  AND    EQUIPMENT  21 

possible  should  be  furnished  the  catalogers  since 
their  work  calls  for  continuous  use  of  the  eyes  for 
practically  the  whole  of  their  working  day  En- 
trance to  the  cataloging  room  should  be  from  cor- 
ridors or  halls,  rather  than  through  other  rooms. 

In  small  library  buildings  there  is  not  so  much 
need  to  insist  on  all  these  requirements.  But  even 
in  small  buildings  the  factors  of  comparative  quiet, 
short  distances,  convenient  access  to  stacks  and 
public  catalog  can  not  well  be  ignored.  In  large 
buildings  care  in  planning  these  matters  will  save 
countless  steps,  constant  loss  of  energy,  and  unnec- 
essary interruptions. 

Floor  plan  of  catalog  room.  A  cataloging  room 
(or  rooms)  must  have  (1)  desks  and  chairs  for 
catalogers  and  copyists,  (2)  ample  aisle  space  for 
book  trucks  and  for  the  movement  of  persons,  (3) 
floor  space  for  revolving  book  cases  at  catalogers' 
desks,  (4)  shelves  for  reference  books,  (5)  card 
catalog  cases  for  both  official  catalogs  and  card 
bibhographies,  (6)  space  for  certain  minor  mechan- 
ical apparatus  and  for  washstand,  etc.,  (7)  locker 
and  cabinet  space  for  supplies.  These  various 
items  are  dwelt  upon  in  detail  in  the  following 
pages.  A  cataloger's  desk  (5  by  2|  feet),  chair, 
book-case,  and  a  truck  of  books  with  floor  and  aisle 
space  for  free  movement  will  require  a  space  at 
least  10  feet  by  6,  or  60  square  feet  of  floor.  This 
does  not  allow  for  catalog  cases,  book-shelves,  etc., 


22  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

etc.,  which  must  be  figured  separately.  A  mini- 
mum of  100  square  feet  to  a  person  is  usually- 
allowed  in  planning  offices  of  this  sort. 

The  desks  should  be  placed  with  reference  to  the 
light  from  the  windows,  so  that  the  light  comes 
naturally  on  the  left  of  the  catalogers  when  seated 
at  the  desks.  The  other  arrangements  of  the  room 
should  in  most  cases  be  subordinated  to  this  of  the 
relations  between  windows  and  desks.  ^ 

The  ventilation  must  conform,  of  course,  to  the 
general  ventilating  and  heating  system  of  the  build- 
ing. If,  however,  the  location  of  the  catalogers' 
desks  is  planned  in  advance  with  reference  to  the 
windows  it  will  be  possible  to  avoid  direct  currents 
of  either  hot  or  cold  air  on  persons  seated  at  these 
desks. 

Furniture.  A  generous  material  equipment  will 
aid  greatly  in  maintaining  a  high  standard  of  work. 
If  the  air  is  bad  and  the  equipment  inadequate,  an 
even  and  high-class  output  is  difficult  to  maintain. 
The  catalogers'  desks  should  be  flat  and  reasonably 
large.  There  is  a  decided  gain  in  efficiency  if  the 
chairs  are  carefully  fitted  to  the  individual  workers, 

^  The  artificial  light  for  the  desks  is  best  supplied  in  the 
form  of  individual  desk  lamps,  not  neglecting,  however, 
some  provision  for  general  illumination  of  the  room. 
Whenever  there  is  need  for  night  work  the  desk  lights  alone 
are  insufficient.  Switches  should  always  be  near  the  en- 
trance to  the  room. 


ROOMS  AND    EQUIPMENT  23 

if  proper  footrests  are  provided,  and  if  book  trucks 
and  trays  are  furnished  in  sufficient  quantity  to  do 
away  with  strain  in  handhng  steadily  large  numbers 
of  heavy  books.  Care  in  these  matters  will  surely 
pay  in  results.  Eye-strain  resulting  from  facing 
windows  or  similar  faults  of  position  should  be 
carefully  avoided.  When  one  remembers  the  ex- 
treme demands  which  ordinary  cataloging  (not  to 
mention  revision  of  copying  or  proof),  makes  on  the 
eyes,  and  the  further  fact  that  cataloging  calls  for 
continual  attention  week  in  and  week  out  to  minute 
details  of  books  and  cards,  precautions  to  avoid 
eye-strain  become  plain  business  sense.  Even  in 
small  libraries  such  precautions  can  not  be  neglected 
with  impunity. 

Small  revolving  bookcases  at  each  desk  are  almost 
a  necessary  part  of  the  cataloging  equipment.  So 
also  are  trays  for  catalog  cards,  and  desk  drawers 
fitted  with  compartments  of  standard  card  size. 

Machinery.  In  addition  to  other  furniture, 
there  is  usually  needed  a  certain  amount  of  machin- 
ery in  a  catalog  room.  Typewriters  are  provided 
in  many  libraries  for  the  writing  of  all  cards.  There 
is  considerable  question  as  to  the  wisdom  of  this 
practice  when  there  are  several  employees  of  vari- 
ous grades  engaged  in  cataloging  work.  In  such 
cases  the  wiser  plan  seems  to  be  to  confine  the  com- 
pulsory use  of  the  machine  to  copyists  or  subordi- 
nate workers,  and  to  continue  the  ancient  practice 


24  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

of  writing  the  original  card  by  hand  with  the  pen. 
When  the  cataloging  is  very  simple,  and  can  be 
done  rapidly,  perhaps  there  is  gain  in  the  use  of  the 
typewriter.  When,  however,  judgment,  accuracy, 
and  selection  are  the  important  factors,  as  in  most 
research  libraries,  and  in  all  large  institutions  hav- 
ing many  recondite  books,  the  item  of  speed  in 
writing  is  of  secondary  importance,  and  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  typewriter  for  the  initial  card 
disappears. 

In  addition  to  typewriters,  other  forms  of  dupli- 
cating machinery,  hectograph,  multigraph,  flexo- 
type,  and  the  like,  seem  likely  to  become  a  necessary 
part  of  the  cataloging  room's  equipment.  Perhaps 
a  small  printing-press,  such  as  that  used  in  some 
libraries  for  printing  subject  headings  on  purchased 
cards,  is  also  to  be  a  future  requisite.  Floor  space 
and  light  for  the  accommodation  in  proper  form  of 
these  mechanical  aids  should  be  provided,  even  if 
at  present  they  are  not  installed. 

Miscellaneous  equipment.  It  should  almost  go 
without  saying  that  there  should  be  telephone 
connection  (both  internal  and  external)  in  the  cat- 
aloging room.  A  properly  screened  stationary 
washstand  with  hot  and  cold  water  should  also  be 
provided.  Books  are  invariably  dusty,  and  in  cat- 
aloging work  it  is  necessary  to  cleanse  the  hands 
frequently.  A  supply  of  individual  towels  should 
of  course  be  a  part  of  the  equipment,  as  is  required 


ROOMS  AND    EQUIPMENT  25 

by  law  in  some  states.  If  the  library  is  small,  the 
storing  of  the  cataloging  supplies — cards,  ink, 
pencils,  pens,  labels,  blank  forms,  etc. — can  well 
be  cared  for  in  a  small  cupboard  or  in  the  desks. 
But  if  it  is  large,  special  lockers  or  closets  for  this 
purpose  should  not  be  neglected,  even  when  there 
is  a  general  storeroom. 

Card  cases  and  shelves.  In  deciding  on  the 
location  of  shelves  and  card  catalog  cases  in  the 
cataloging  room  of  a  new  building  it  will  be  well 
to  remember  that  it  is  more  economical  of  space, 
and  usually  more  convenient  as  well,  to  group 
either  shelves  or  cases  in  one  part  of  the  room 
rather  than  to  arrange  them  around  the  walls. 
In  any  case,  the  relations  of  bookshelves,  card 
cases,  and  catalogers'  desks  to  the  natural  and 
artificial  light  provided  should  not  be  neglected. 
Particular  care  should  always  be  given  to  furnish- 
ing as  nearly  as  possible  overhead  lighting  for 
catalog  cases.  The  difficulty  in  reading  the  lower 
lines  of  a  card  which  is  in  partial  shadow  and  like- 
wise tilted  at  an  unfavorable  angle  should  be  elimi- 
nated. The  factor  of  time  spent  in  going  from 
desks  to  shelves  and  card  cases  should  receive 
careful  attention.  Much  unnecessary  motion  in 
daily  routine  can  be  done  away  by  preliminary 
planning  of  a  room  or  series  of  rooms. 

A  generous  and  carefully  planned  equipment  on 
the  physical  side  promotes  convenience,  makes  for 


26  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

a  high  class  output,  and  for  loyal,  efficient  service. 
Careful  planning  to  avoid  interference  and  unnec- 
essary physical  effort,  to  furnish  good  light,  venti- 
lation, and  effective  tools  should  result  in  a  satisfied, 
hard-working,  and  efficient  force,  be  it  large  or 
small. 

Reference  books.  It  is  poor  economy  to  skimp 
on  the  catalogers'  reference  books.  Even  though 
the  necessity  for  the  practice  of  cataloging  in  the 
individual  library  is  on  the  wane  as  the  result  of 
cooperative  effort,  the  money  spent  on  a  catalogers' 
reference  collection,  and  even  on  a  good  deal  of 
duplication  in  it,  is  well  invested.  The  amount  of 
time  which  is  often  wasted  for  want  of  the  primary 
reference  books  in  the  catalog  room  is  of  itself 
sufficient  reason  for  devoting  funds  to  their  pur- 
chase. If  the  reference  collection  is  a  strong  one, 
not  only  will  it  become  at  once  a  decided  help  in 
the  way  of  saving  time,  strength  and  energy,  but 
the  cataloger  thoroughly  familiar  with  it  is  thereby 
a  factor  of  value  in  all  reference  work.  Particularly 
is  this  true  of  the  smaller  libraries  in  which  the 
familiarity  with  rather  recondite  works  on  the  part 
of  the  catalogers  frequently  renders  them  of  great 
aid  to  readers. 2 

2  For  lists  of  reference  books  for  cataloging,  cf .  New 
York  State  Library.  Cataloguer's  reference  books.  Bul- 
letin No.  84,  Bibliography  No.  36,  1904. 

Also  ibid.,  Selection  of  reference  books  for  the  use  of 


ROOMS   AND    EQUIPMENT  27 

A  library  devoted  to  a  special  subject  or  interest 
will  of  course  gather  for  its  catalogers  all  the  avail- 
able bibliographic  material  on  its  specialty. 

In  planning  for  the  cataloging  reference  collection 
and  its  housing  it  is  well  to  allow  ample  room  for 
growth.  If  there  is  anything  which  the  last  twenty 
years  have  made  plain,  it  is  that  the  growth  of 
libraries  has  far  outstripped  even  generous  provision 
for  their  equipment.  In  fact  all  plans  for  catalog- 
ing work — as  indeed  for  all  library  work — must 
have  the  possibility  of  extension  in  view.  Even  if 
the  relative  number  of  cards  made  in  a  particular 
library  is  to  diminish,  the  actual  number  prepared 
is  likely  to  grow  greater. 

Bibliographies  of  the  future  are  likely  to  take 
card  as  well  as  book  form.  In  preparing  a  catalog 
room,  therefore,  ample  provision  should  be  made 
for  a  large  number  of  card  catalog  cases  for  refer- 
ence use  in  addition  to  those  which  must  of  necessity 
be  placed  in  the  room  for  the  library's  own  product. 
At  present  the  cost  of  the  proofsheets  of  the  Library 
of  Congress  cards  is  so  low  that  every  library  of 

cataloguers  in  finding  full  names.  Bulletin  Bibliography- 
No.  5,  January  1898. 

Austin,  W.  H.  Report  on  aids  and  guides — a  summary 
of  bibliographical  aids  to  cataloguers,  Library  Journal,  v. 
19,  Conf.  number,  p.  77-80. 

Vienna.  Universitat.  Katalog  der  Handbiblioteken 
des  Katalogzimmers  und  des  Lesesales.  Wien,  Ceroid  & 
Cie,  1908. 


28  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

any  size  can  afford  to  purchase,  cut,  and  file  either 
a  complete  set  of  these, — or  of  the  printed  cards 
themselves — or  else  a  partial  set,  to  suit  its  own 
needs.  These  will  form  the  best  available  bibliog- 
raphy for  the  use  not  only  of  the  catalogers,  but  of 
the  library's  clientele.  There  are  numerous  card 
bibliographies  which  can  be  of  the  greatest  benefit 
to  specialized  libraries,  and  their  number  is  steadily 
growing.^ 

Ample  provision  for  a  greatly  increased  number 
of  cards  as  well  as  of  books  is  therefore  a  necessity 
of  a  modern  cataloging  room.  A  great  deal  of 
otherwise  unused  wall  and  floor  space  can  be  put 
into  cheaply  finished  but  well-made  metal  or 
wooden  card  cases.  These  should  be  numerous 
enough  to  hold  several  million  cards  in  the  larger 
libraries,  and  at  least  a  million  in  smaller  ones. 

CARDS 

Size.  The  "standard  size"  card,  7.5  by  12.5 
cm.,  roughly  3  by  5  inches,  has  come  into  such  uni- 
versal use  in  American  libraries  that  practically  no 
provision  is  any  longer  made  for  any  other  size 
of  card.     The  smaller  card,  "index"  size,  had  a 

'  Examples  of  such  card  bibliographies  are  the  various 
card  indexes  published  by  the  Concilium  Bibliographicum 
of  Zurich  in  certain  fields  of  natural  science,  and  the  card 
indexes  to  insurance  cases  furnished  by  certain  law  publish- 
ing firms. 


BOOMS  AND   EQUIPMENT  29 

considerable  vogue  for  many  years,  but  of  late  this 
size  card  has  been  discarded  by  the  only  libraries 
of  distinction  which  had  clung  to  it.  The  printed 
cards  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  of  the  Konigliche 
Bibliothek  of  Berlin,  and  of  the  Concilium  Bibli- 
ographicum  of  Zurich  are  all  standard  size.  To 
this  size  all  standard  library  card  trays  and  cases 
conform,  and  any  departure  from  it  is  likely  to 
prove  very  expensive  on  that  account.  For  ordi- 
nary cataloging  work,  then,  the  standard  size  card 
is  without  a  rival. 

Weight  and  quality.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the 
card  catalog  a  very  heavy  card  was  generally 
recommended  on  the  ground  that  it  was  best  suited 
to  long  use  in  public  catalogs.  Experience  showed 
that  there  was  no  need  of  this  excessive  weight,  if 
the  quality  of  the  paper  was  excellent,  and  a  card 
of  more  moderate  thickness  has  found  favor  during 
the  last  two  decades.  The  Library  of  Congress 
printed  cards  are  of  linen  rag  cardboard  of  about 
the  same  weight  as  the  "medium"  weight  cards  of 
the  best  commercial  supply  houses.  A  number  of 
libraries  whose  catalogs  are  not  consulted  by  great 
numbers  of  people  have  long  used  a  much  lighter 
card  of  high  quality,  the  so-called  "L"  weight. 

The  tests  of  a  card  are  the  cleanness  and  speed 
with  which  it  "fingers"  in  consultation,  and  the 
fastness  of  its  color.  Card  stock  of  a  poor  quality 
generally  breaks  or  frays  on  the  top  edge  under 


30  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

constant  use.  Because  of  this  breaking  down  of 
the  edge  the  tops  of  the  cards  retain  dust  and  the 
cards  frequently  stick  together.  Hence  a  smooth, 
hard,  and  absolutely  even  top  edge  is  indispensable. 
Any  card  which  fails  under  wear  at  this  point  is 
dear,  no  matter  at  what  cheap  price  it  was  bought. 
Experience  proves  that  a  good  quality  of  card 
stock  must  be  insisted  on.  Librarians  have  learned 
this  thoroughly,  and  usually  lean  to  the  side  of  too 
good''  rather  than  too  poor  card  stock. 

Ruling.  In  the  earlier  days  of  card  catalogs  the 
ruling  of  the  card  was  a  matter  much  discussed. 
The  need  of  uniformity  in  manuscript  cards  to  be 
consulted  rapidly  was  felt  to  warrant  rather  rigid 
insistence  on  uniform  ruling  and  strictness  in  mat- 
ters of  indenting  and  the  like.  At  present,  when 
the  bulk  of  the  cards  are  either  printed  or  type- 
written, the  ruling  is  hardly  so  important,  as  the 
alignment  and  spacing  of  printed  or  typewritten 
cards  can  readily  be  made  accurate  and  uniform. 

*  Cf .  Library  of  Congress.  Annual  Report,  1905,  p.  147- 
152,  for  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  medium  and 
light  weight  cards  and  for  reports  of  experiments  with  both. 

Various  claims  are  advanced  by  manufacturers  of  card 
stock  with  regard  to  their  methods  of  cutting  so  as  to  leave 
an  absolutely  smooth  and  even  top.  Experience  seems  to 
point  to  the  use  of  rotating  knives  as  producing  the  best 
results  both  in  the  edge  and  in  the  accuracy  of  cutting.  Of 
course  absolute  likeness  in  size  is  essential  to  quick  consul- 
tation of  catalog  cards. 


ROOMS  AND   EQUIPMENT  31 

Manuscript  cards  should  still  be  ruled  with  the  top 
and  two  side  lines  in  red,  as  of  old.  Typewritten 
cards  will  do  well  without  any  ruled  lines  at  all,  if 
copyists  are  trained  to  follow  the  proper  model. ^ 

Guide  Cards.  Guide  cards  to  aid  the  reader  in 
finding  his  place  in  a  catalog  tray  are  usually  made 
of  bristol  board.  They  are  somewhat  higher  than 
the  other  cards  in  the  tray,  and  as  a  rule  the  pro- 
jecting surface  is  but  a  third  (or  less)  of  the 
width  of  the  card.  Guide  cards  can  now  be 
bought  with  the  legends  printed  and  protected  by 
celluloid.  There  are  numerous  other  devices  to 
strengthen  the  guide  card  and  to  prevent  its 
wearing  out.  As  a  rule  none  of  these  are  very 
satisfactory.  In  the  nature  of  things  guide  cards 
must  wear  out  quickly,  and  they  should  be  re- 
newed frequently  as  a  part  of  routine  work  and 
expense.  They  are  seldom  too  numerous.  In  fact, 
there  are  seldom  enough  of  them  in  large  catalogs. 

In  addition  to  the  ordinary  guide  cards  to  aid  in 
finding  a  given  caption,  it  is  highly  desirable  to 
insert  explanatory  guide  cards  before  all  compli- 
cated entries.  If  a  subject  is  subdivided,  the  guide 
card  should  list  the  subdivisions;  if  an  author  entry 
requires  explanation  or  elaboration,  a  guide  card 
before  the  first  author  card  gives  the  needed  in- 
formation.    These  may  well  be  of  a  different  color 

^  On  ink  and  copying  ribbons,  cf .  below,  p.  107. 


32     .  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

from  the  ordinary  bristol  guide-cards.  It  is  of 
course  important  that  the  legends  should  be  brief, 
as  they  are  practically  sign-boards.  Many  such 
guides  could  be  printed  in  advance  and  used  (with 
different  headings)  for  a  variety  of  purposes.  The 
various  subdivisions  employed  under  countries 
and  the  subheads  used  in  subject  catalogs  under 
authors  are  examples. 


Chapter  III 

PLANNING  THE  CATALOG 

NUMBER   AND   KINDS   OF   CATALOGS 

Before  entering  on  the  actual  work  of  cataloging 
it  is  necessary  to  determine  in  advance  the  number 
and  kinds  of  catalogs  to  be  maintained.  Libra- 
rians have  frequently  failed  to  realize  that  in  their 
routine  processes  they  in  effect  make  and  keep  up 
several  sorts  of  catalogs.  The  kinds  most  com- 
monly in  use  are :  (1)  a  catalog  of  accessions,  (2)  a 
catalog  of  classes  of  books  (shelf-list),  (3)  a  catalog 
of  authors,  (4)  a  catalog  of  subjects,  (5)  a  catalog  of 
titles.  There  may  be  in  addition  numerous  dupli- 
cations of  parts  of  any  of  these  five.  The  number 
generally  includes  catalogs  primarily  for  the  use  of 
the  catalogers  ("official"  catalog),  or  for  the  order 
clerks,  and  a  catalog  (or  catalogs)  for  readers — the 
public  catalog.  It  is  obvious  that  if  these  are  to 
differ  in  form,  their  number  must  become  a  very 
serious  consideration.  If,  however,  the  same  entry 
(card)  can  be  used  in  all  or  most  of  them,  and  if 
it  can  be  made  once  and  duplicated  ad  libitum,  the 
question  of  the  number  of  catalogs  maintained  is 
much  less  serious.^     It  then  becomes  a  matter  of 

^  In  the  Library  of  Congress  there  are  over  100  card  cata- 
logs, large  and  small — all  made  of  printed  cards. 

33 


34  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

the  expense  of  duplicating,  of  filing,  and  of  cases. 
Obviously  also,  an  adjustment  of  the  various  proc- 
esses of  preparing  the  record  of  a  book  in  the 
library  may  be  devised  which  will  enable  the  initial 
record  to  be  duplicated  cheaply  and  to  be  used  in  as 
many  ways  as  are  desirable.  The  economy  effected 
by  the  single  device  of  using  the  same  form  of  entry 
for  a  given  book  throughout  the  institution,  and 
having  that  entry  determined  once  and  for  all 
early  in  the  process  is  only  to  be  understood  by 
those  who  have  encountered  the  vexatious  delays 
and  difficulties  caused  by  varying  records  in  differ- 
ent departments  for  a  book  of  doubtful  origin. 
Why  an  accession  clerk,  a  shelf-lister,  a  cataloger, 
and  a  classifier — not  to  mention  others — should  in 
turn  have  to  worry  himself,  and  others,  over  the 
proper  form  of  intricate  or  difficult  entries  (as  they 
too  frequently  do)  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  bad 
management.^ 

The  adoption,  then,  of  the  principle  of  the  "  unit " 
card  and  uniform  rules  of  entry  for  various  records 
will  resolve  in  great  measure  the  difficulties  ex- 
perienced in  keeping  several  catalogs.  It  should  not 
be  forgotten,  however,  whatever  the  number  of 
catalogs  determined  on,  that  there  are  involved 
in  the  carrying  out  of  this  principle  (1)  some  cheap 
mechanical  process  of  duplicating  cards,  or  the 

2  Cf.  infra,  p.  56. 


PLANNING   THE   CATALOG  35 

possibility  of  purchasing  them  at  a  moderate  cost, 
and  (2)  certain  definite  future  expense  for  cases, 
floorspace  and  filing.  Libraries  are  sure  to  grow 
year  by  year.  Reference  libraries  wear  out  few 
books.  The  cost  of  future  records  in  both  space 
and  money  must  be  carefully  counted.' 

OflScial  Catalog.  There  is  one  practical  ques- 
tion which  deserves  attention  at  this  point. 
Shall  a  small  library  keep  an  "official"  catalog, 
that  is,  a  catalog  placed  in  the  catalog  room 
for  the  use  of  the  catalogers  and  classifiers? 
Of  course,  if  the  library  is  very  small,  and  is 
unlikely  to  grow  large,  especially  if  there  be  but 
one  or  two  workers,  an  official  catalog  is  a  bit 
of  foolish  extravagance.  A  library  of  fifty  thou- 
sand volumes  will  perhaps  hardly  need  one.  But  if 
the  library  be  part  of  an  institution  of  learning,  of 
research,  whether  purely  practical  or  theoretical, 
if  it  is  to  have  a  continuous  existence  and  growth, 
an  official  catalog  had  better  be  started  early — even 
when  it  may  seem  an  absurdity.  The  time  saved 
to  the  cataloging  force,  the  helpful  aid  to  continuity 
and  consistency  which  the  opportunity  to  insert 
all  sorts  of  catalogers'  notes  and  directions  affords, 
the  comparatively  trifling  expense  of  maintenance, 
all  point  in  the  direction  of  estabhshing  such  an 

'  Cf .  my  articles  in  Library  Journal,  v.  30,  p.  10-14,  and 
V.  31,  p.  270-271,  on  "The  cost  of  cataloging,"  and  "The 
number  of  catalog  cards  to  a  book." 


36  MODERN   LIBRA.RY   CATALOGING 

office  record.  In  a  large  library  there  can  be  no 
possible  question  that  an  official  catalog  saves  time 
and  money,  insures  uniformity  of  treatment,  and  is 
the  means  of  avoiding  much  serious  trouble.  In- 
cidentally also  the  fact  that  it  saves  catalogers 
from  continual  consultation  and  even  occasional 
monopolization  of  the  public  catalog  is  an  item  of 
no  small  moment.  Everyone  has  seen  public  cata- 
logs thronged  by  catalogers  to  the  point  of  inter- 
fering with  the  convenience  of  readers.  When 
there  is  no  official  catalog  this  interference  may,  and 
probably  will,  become  a  charge  against  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  library,  to  say  nothing  of  the  waste 
of  the  cataloger's  time  in  going  from  the  cataloging 
room  to  the  public  catalog. 

Full  or  Short  Catalogs.  In  the  days  when  all 
the  cards  for  the  various  catalogs  were  made 
by  one  cataloger  there  was  much  discussion  of 
full  entries  and  of  short  and  simple  entries. 
The  question  is  still  occasionally  raised,  espe- 
cially in  libraries  chiefly  devoted  to  the  circula- 
tion of  popular  books,  and  may  well  be  studied 
by  all  catalogers.  The  decision  of  the  Ameri- 
can Library  Association  committee  to  leave  the 
cataloger  no  liberty  as  regards  the  title-page 
has  never  commended  itself  to  many  students  of 
cataloging  practice.  In  fact,  the  fine  art  of  cata- 
loging lies  in  large  part  in  the  proper  abridgment 
of  the  title.     Whether  the  full  details  of  collation 


PLANNING  THE   CATALOG  37 

are  desirable  for  every  library  is  likewise  a  matter 
of  doubt.  No  librarian,  as  some  have  mistakenly 
thought,  is  barred  from  making  a  decision  on  these 
matters  by  the  fact  that  he  buys  and  uses  printed 
cards  in  his  catalog.  On  the  contrary,  he  may,  and 
indeed  must,  decide  how  far  the  needs  of  his  par- 
ticular institution  demand  the  complete  bibli- 
ographic description  of  a  book,  and  what  elements 
he  may  with  safety  omit.  Of  course  he  can  not 
use  printed  cards  successfully  in  his  catalog  if  he 
does  not  ordinarily  make  his  "  main  entries  "  accord- 
ing to  code.  Other  matters  he  may  determine  for 
himself  without  undue  contrast. 

While  these  questions  are  discussed  in  some  detail 
in  a  later  chapter,''  it  may  be  well  to  remark  here 
that  the  date  and  place  of  publication  and  the  pub- 
lisher's name  are  not  wisely  omitted  in  any  library 
frequented  by  specialists  in  any  field.  Neither  are 
the  notes  of  illustrations,  maps,  and  plans,  nor  the 
number  of  pages  and  volumes.  These  are  all  items 
of  moment  to  one  selecting  a  book  from  a  catalog. 
The  needs  of  his  readers  will  necessarily  govern  the 
librarian's  decision.  The  best  principle  to  follow  is 
to  err  on  the  side  of  fullness,  if  the  library  is  to  grow. 
Information  which  easily  differentiates  somewhat 
similar  books  or  editions  in  a  small  collection  will 
often  be  wholly  insufficient  in  a  large  library.     The 

*  Cf .  p.  92-95. 


58955 


38  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

much-vexed  matter  of  full  names  is  a  case  in  point. 
In  a  library  of,  say,  fifty  thousand  volumes  which 
consists  largely  of  the  writings  of  contemporary 
authors  there  will  not  be  any  great  confusion  arising 
from  identical  or  apparently  identical  names.  But 
in  a  library  which  has  passed — or  will  pass — that 
figure,  there  will  constantly  come  up  cases  of  the 
same  surname,  the  same  ordinarily  used  given 
name,  or  the  same  initials.  Differentiation  is 
obviously  needed.  In  the  full  name  of  each  writer  it 
is  ordinarily  sought  and  found  without  the  uncom- 
fortable expedients  of  dates  and  epithets,  defini- 
tions and  ^'floruits."  Insistence  on  full  names, 
which  so  often  seems  pedantry  and  which  so  easily 
excites  the  cheap  wit  of  the  captious  critic,  is  in 
reality  the  fruit  of  bitter  experience.  How  much 
greater  would  be  the  ire  of  the  man  who  now  rails 
at  the  meticulousness  of  catalogers,  if  he  should 
find  no  adequate  distinction  in  the  catalog  between 
the  array  of  men  who  have  rejoiced  in  the  names  of 
John  Smith  or  Wilhelm  Miiller,  other  than  at- 
tempted dates  or  designations.  Here  is  where  the 
three  and  four  Christian  names  do  yeoman  service 
in  the  cause  of  accuracy. 

In  arriving  at  a  decision,  therefore,  the  probable 
future  development  of  the  collection  must  be  the 
guiding  consideration.  On  the  other  hand  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  a  decision  to  be  "full"  may 
involve  expense  which  may  be  needless  and  which 


PLANNING   THE   CATALOG  39 

must  be  incurred  with  every  book  and  pamphlet 
cataloged.  Experience  has  shown  that  a  mean 
between  very  full  and  very  short  catalogs  is  attain- 
able with  intelligent  direction  and  good,  well- 
trained  catalogers.  A  changing  force  working  on 
a  large  collection  can  not  be  held  to  this  mean  with 
success. 

The  amount  of  time  consumed  in  noting  the  de- 
tails of  collation  is  generally  held  to  be  a  more 
serious  argument  against  the  full  catalog  than  any 
supposed  lack  of  demand  for  the  information  when 
supplied.  But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  this 
objection  is  valid  under  modern  conditions.  The 
time  and  labor  spent  in  determining  the  proper 
form  of  entries,  both  author  and  subject  (fre- 
quently from  a  lengthy  and  minute  consultation 
of  authorities),  are  usually  far  in  excess  of  that 
needed  for  setting  down  the  other  details,  since 
these  last  are  almost  always  to  be  obtained  from 
the  book  itself.  If,  now,  the  American  Library 
Association  code  be  followed,  and  if  in  addition 
there  is  kept  a  file  of  Library  of  Congress  cards  or 
proofsheets,  the  proper  form  of  entry  for  puzzling 
books  is  determined  very  rapidly;  even  when  there 
is  no  printed  card  for  the  book  in  hand,  there  are 
frequently  cards  for  other  works  of  the  same  author. 
Some  favorite  hobbies  of  entry  must  of  course  be 
abandoned  in  following  the  Library  of  Congress 
form  of  entry.     But  the  time  thus  set  free  for  work 


40  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

on  other  features,  i.e.,  added  entries  (including  sub- 
jects), collation,  and  notes,  makes  possible  a  good 
grade  of  "home-made"  card  which  would  have 
been  impractical  because  of  pressure  of  work  in 
very  many  libraries  a  decade  since. 

FORMS   OF   CATALOGS 

Dictionary  catalog.  There  are  three  forms  of 
catalogs  for  the  public  in  use  in  American  libraries, 
the  dictionary  catalog,  the  classed  catalog,  and  the 
alphabetic-classed  catalog.  In  the  dictionary  cata- 
log which  is  the  form  in  use  in  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority of  libraries,  author,  title,  and  subject  entries 
are  arranged  in  one  alphabet,  exactly  as  are  the 
words  in  an  ordinary  dictionary.  Further,  with 
a  very  few  exceptions,  the  sub-arrangement  is 
strictly  alphabetical.  Theoretically  this  arrange- 
ment on  a  strictly  alphabetical  basis  is  simple  and 
easily  understood.  It  is  claimed  that  even  the 
tyro  can  use  a  dictionary  card  catalog  with  both 
ease  and  success.  This  is  undoubtedly  true  in  the 
smaller  libraries.  Even  in  the  larger  ones,  in  which 
intricate  author  and  subject  entries,  as  well  as 
extremely  large  numbers  of  cards  under  certain 
headings,  present  obstacles  to  the  successful  work- 
ing of  the  principle  of  alphabetic  arrangement,  this 
principle  is,  nevertheless,  on  the  whole  the  most 
successful  yet  invented.     There   is   an   immense 


PLANNING   THE   CATALOG  41 

advantage  in  the  collocation  of  author  and  subject 
when  these  happen  to  be  the  same,  as  in  such  a 
heading  as  Dante,  or  any  other  man  of  letters. 
There  is  great  convenience,  too,  in  finding  the  publi- 
cations of  any  corporate  body,  as  for  example,  the 
city  of  New  York,  in  juxtaposition  with  works 
about  that  particular  body  or  locality.  It  is  too 
much,  however;  to  expect  that  because  the  diction- 
ary form  of  arrangement  is  comparatively  simple 
that  it  will  of  itself  be  intelligible  to  untrained  per- 
sons. In  the  smallest  libraries  it  is  well  to  supple- 
ment the  catalog  with  every  device  to  render  it 
self -interpreting,  not  omitting  such  elementary  aids 
as  plenty  of  guide-cards,  labels,  and  notes  explana- 
tory of  arrangement.  In  large  libraries  some  per- 
sonal assistance  must  almost  necessarily  be  rendered 
to  readers  desirous  of  ferreting  out  obscure  and 
hidden  items.  If  a  separate  room  is  provided  for 
the  public  catalog,  there  will  have  to  be  attendants. 
It  is  evident  that  they  must  be  versed  not  only  in 
the  rules  of  cataloging  and  of  filing,  but  also  in  the 
use  of  printed  bibliographies  and  catalogs  as  sub- 
stitutes and  helps  to  the  card  catalog.  It  is  useful 
to  have  certain  members  of  the  cataloging  staff 
detailed  to  serve  as  attendants  in  the  catalog  room, 
both  because  of  their  familiarity  with  the  making 
of  catalogs,  and  for  the  reflex  effect  on  their  work  in 
cataloging. 

Most  American   libraries  follow   Mr.   Cutter's 


42  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

rules  for  the  arrangement  of  a  dictionary  catalog 
found  in  the  fourth  edition  of  his  Rules,  p.  111-129.^ 

Classed  catalog.  The  classed  catalog,  or  "cata- 
logue raisonne"  as  it  was  termed  in  the  earlier 
works,  is  less  frequently  met  with  in  American  libra- 
ries. Most  libraries,  however,  prepare  a  shelf-list, 
which  is  substantially  the  same  thing  as  a  classed 
catalog.  The  shelf-list  does  not  ordinarily  con- 
tain the  cross-references  which  will  be  found  in  a 
good  classed  catalog,  although  such  additional 
entries  would  strengthen  a  shelf-list  which  was 
designed  only  for  the  use  of  the  classifiers.  There 
has  never  been  any  very  strong  reason  for  the  fail- 
ure of  most  libraries  to  duplicate  their  shelf-lists 
for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  or  at  least  to  make 
them  as  fully  accessible  as  the  other  card  catalogs. 
With  the  advent  of  the  printed  cards  such  duplica- 
tion is  not  only  possible  at  a  moderate  cost,  but 
from  every  point  of  view  highly  desirable. 

A  classed  catalog  will  show  at  a  glance  exactly 

^  On  the  dictionary  catalog,  cf.  the  papers  by  Barrett  and 
Pollard,  Second  International  Conference  of  Librarians, 
London,  1897,  pp.  67  and  63  respectively;  W.  E.  Doubleday, 
Class  lists  or  dictionary  catalogs?  Library,  9:  179;  Charles 
A.  Cutter,  Why  and  how  a  dictionary  catalog  is  made. 
Library  Journal,  15:  143;  E.  W.  Hulme,  Principles  of  dic- 
tionary subject  cataloging  in  scientific  and  technical  libra- 
ries. Library  Association  Record,  2:  551,  571,  668;  A.  B. 
Kroeger,  Dictionary  catalogs  versus  bibliographies,  Library 
Journal,  27:  Conf.  180. 


PLANNING  THE   CATALOG  43 

what  books  are  grouped  on  the  shelves  under  any 
topic  or  subdivision  of  a  topic.  It  is  necessarily 
arranged  in  the  exact  order  of  the  library's  classi- 
fication. When  there  are  numerous  divisions  in 
the  collections,  as  the  seminar  and  laboratory 
libraries  in  our  large  universities,  or  the  branches 
of  a  large  public  library,  the  classed  catalog  will 
reveal  more  fully  and  accurately  the  library's  real 
strength  on  any  one  topic  than  will  an  examination 
of  the  shelves.  A  "union  shelf -list,"  which  is 
practically  a  classified  catalog,  becomes  a  vitally 
important  tool  under  such  conditions. 

There  are  certain  advantages  of  a  technical  sort 
in  the  classed  catalog.  The  classification  has  to  be 
done  anyhow,  and  the  preparation  of  a  subject 
catalog  arranged  by  classes  is  but  a  slight  additional 
burden  on  the  classifying  force.  To  one  familiar 
with  the  scheme  of  arrangement  adopted  it  affords 
a  means  for  an  easy  survey  of  a  comparatively  wide 
field,  as  he  finds  the  various  allied  topics  in  close 
proximity  and  not  scattered  throughout  the  alpha- 
bet according  to  the  accidents  of  terminology. 

From  the  practical  point  of  view  of  the  librarian 
who  must  make  a  decision  between  the  alphabetic 
principle  of  setting  forth  the  contents  of  his  books 
and  the  logical  arrangement  of  titles  it  makes  but 
little  difference  which  form  is  chosen.  It  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  supplement  any  classed  catalog 
with  an  alphabetical  index,  unless  all  the  persons 


44  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

who  consult  the  catalog  are  versed  in  the  niceties 
of  classification.  It  is  likewise  almost  as  essential 
to  set  out  before  investigators  a  detailed  scheme  of 
the  arrangement  of  books  in  the  library  and  the 
actual  titles  under  the  several  heads.  In  other 
words,  if  the  classed  catalog  is  made  the  basis  for 
the  subject  index  of  the  library's  contents,  there 
must  be  an  alphabetic  key  to  the  system;  while  a 
merely  alphabetic  index  gives  no  adequate  notion  of 
the  contents  of  the  library  in  closely  related  fields. 
Practically,  then,  an  author  and  subject  catalog 
arranged  alphabetically,  plus  a  duplication  of  the 
shelf-list,  gives  the  most  effective  clue  to  the  con- 
tents of  the  library.  That  is,  a  dictionary  catalog 
requires  supplementing  by  class  lists,  a  classed 
catalog  by  an  alphabetical  index  of  subjects. 

Just  what  form  the  classed  catalog  which  is  to  be 
used  to  supplement  the  ordinary  dictionary  catalog 
shall  take  is  a  matter  to  be  determined  by  each 
library  adopting  it  in  accordance  with  its  particular 
problems.  Perhaps  small  sections  of  the  classed 
catalog  scattered  through  the  library,  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  the  books  listed,  for  the  con- 
venience of  persons  having  direct  access  to  the 
books,  such  as  class  lists  of  special  collections,  may 
prove  useful.  Small  book  finding-Hsts  in  classed 
form  with  alphabetic  index  are  a  most  convenient 
device,  though  they  involve  a  departure  from  the 
card  principle.     The  so-called  "  title-a-line  "  classed 


PLANNING   THE   CATALOG  45 

lists  which  have  been  issued  by  the  Princeton  Uni- 
versity Library  in  book  form  offer  a  unique  solution 
of  the  problem  of  combining  compactness,  fresh- 
ness, and  low  cost.  In  libraries  which  are  not  too 
large,  it  is  possible  to  combine  card  shelf  or  class 
lists  of  the  various  subjects  with  each  group  of 
reference  books  in  the  reference  room.  Thus  a 
reader  having  at  hand  a  selection  of  the  library's 
best  and  most  recent  treatises  on  a  given  subject 
may  find  also  a  complete  list  of  what  the  library 
has  on  its  shelves  on  the  same  topics.  In  this  way 
the  half  dozen  books  which  do  duty  in  the  reference 
collection  may  have  as  a  support  a  list  of  some 
hundreds  which  the  reader  may  call  for.  This 
scheme  demands  the  planning  of  a  reference  room 
so  that  card  trays  may  be  furnished  in  immediate 
proximity  to  each  set  of  shelves.^ 

Alphabetic-classed  catalog.  In  addition  to  the 
strictly  classified  catalog  which  follows  in  detail 
the  notation  of  the  classification  in  use  in  the  library 
there  is   sometimes  employed  an  alphabetical  ar- 

^  Cf .  H.  Bond.  Classified  vs.  dictionary  catalogues, 
Library  Association  Record,  2:  313-318;  A.  W.  Pollard. 
Meditations  on  directories:  alphabetical  and  classed  cata- 
loguing, The  Library  (New  Series)  2:  82-90.;  J.  H.  Quinn. 
Dictionary  vs.  classified  catalogues  for  Public  Libraries — 
The  classified  catalogue,  Library  Association  Record,  3: 
514-520;  W.  I.  Fletcher,  Future  of  the  catalog,  Library  Jour- 
nal, 30:  141-4. 


46  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

rangement  of  titles  under  the  headings  of  large 
classes  of  books.  This  method  has  the  advantage 
of  not  being  subject  to  change  in  arrangement  with 
the  development  of  the  classification  and  the  conse- 
quent inevitable  change  of  notation,  while  it  still 
retains  the  advantage  of  the  systematic  arrange- 
ment. It  is  the  true  "catalogue  raisonne"  disposed 
in  alphabetical  order.  The  use  of  inversion  keeps 
related  subjects  together,  while  the  call  numbers 
appearing  in  the  customary  place  are  an  indication 
of  the  location  of  the  books  and  not  a  guide  to  the 
arrangement  of  the  catalog.  In  such  a  catalog  Bot- 
any is  found  (with  a  variety  of  sub-headings)  under 
the  letter  B,  while  Zoology  comes  under  Z,  and 
both  headings  may  contain  cards  for  books  which 
are  located  in  parts  of  the  library's  collections  re- 
moved from  either  class.  Such  an  arrangement 
differs  from  that  of  the  ordinary  dictionary  catalog 
chiefly  in  that  it  generally  includes  under  each  main 
head  a  larger  variety  of  sub-heads,  i.e.,  it  is  a  group- 
ing of  titles  by  class,  rather  than  by  specific  subject. 
Such  an  alphabetical  classed  catalog  does  not,  of 
course,  require  an  index  as  a  strictly  classed  catalog 
does,  nor  does  it  involve  so  much  movement  in 
consultation  as  a  strictly  dictionary  catalog.  It 
is  best  adapted  to  small  collections.  In  a  large 
library  the  subjects  become  so  unwieldy  that  even 
minute  and  very  specific  headings  come  to  have  an 
unduly  large  number  of  cards  under  each,  whether 


PLANNING  THE   CATALOG  47 

those  headings  be  treated  as  divisions  of  the  classi- 
fication or  as  separate  subject  entries.  The  alpha- 
betically arranged  classified  catalog  is  not,  there- 
fore, much  in  favor  in  progressive  library  circles 
for  large  collections. 

Arrangement.  Before  leaving  this  topic,  it  may 
be  remarked  that  the  dictionary  catalog  principle 
of  specific  headings  may  be  followed  successfully 
without  filing  the  author,  title,  and  subject  cards 
in  one  alphabet.  If  it  appears  desirable  to  keep 
an  author  record  separate  from  the  subject  record, 
it  may  be  done  without  any  departure  from  the 
basic  principle  of  the  dictionary  catalog.  In  some 
institutions,  in  which  the  catalog  is  consulted  very 
much  more  often  to  discover  whether  a  certain 
book  is  in  the  library  than  to  find  what  the  library 
has  on  a  particular  topic,  there  is  no  small  practical 
convenience  in  keeping  the  two  apart.  In  that 
case  it  is  perhaps  well  to  keep  biographical  and 
critical  works  in  the  author  catalog  under  the  name 
of  the  subject,  as  is  done  in  the  British  Museum 
Catalogue,  or  to  insert  them  in  the  title  catalog,  if 
a  separate  catalog  of  titles  is  maintained. 

DECISION 

The  majority  of  American  libraries  have  card 
catalogs  on  the  dictionary  plan  of  arrangement.  It 
is  probably  the  cheapest  form  to  make  and  to  file, 


48  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

especially  with  the  aid  of  the  purchased  printed 
card.  The  average  reader  undoubtedly  finds  his 
book  in  the  dictionary  catalog  more  easily  than  in 
any  other  kind.  The  dictionary  form,  then,  may 
be  taken  as  the  norm  for  libraries  of  general  interest. 

This  being  granted,  it  becomes  the  librarian's 
duty  to  supplement  the  general  catalog  in  every 
way  possible  within  his  means,  either  by  lists  of 
certain  classes,  selected  lists  of  the  best  books  on 
certain  topics,  or  complete  class-lists.  The  Library 
of  Congress  has  a  dictionary  catalog,  and  supple- 
ments it  by  numerous  select  lists  on  special  topics, 
and  by  bibliographies  showing  completely  its  re- 
sources in  certain  fields.  Its  shelf-lists  will  also 
ultimately  be  available  to  the  public.  The  John 
Crerar  Library  has  a  classed  catalog,  and  has  pub- 
lished some  very  valuable  lists  showing  its  resources 
in  particular  fields,  as  Bibliographies  of  special  sub- 
jects. Encyclopaedias,  History  of  Sciences,  etc. 

When  the  resources  of  the  library  do  not  permit 
publication  in  book  form,  they  generally  allow 
either  duplication  of  card  shelf -lists,  or  direct  access 
to  them.  At  all  events,  almost  any  library  can  now 
afford  to  make  by  means  of  (printed)  cards  select 
lists  on  topics  of  particular  interest  in  its  own  com- 
munity. Whether  these  lists  are  arranged  by  classes 
or  not  is  a  matter  of  comparative  indifference. 

Whatever  decision  is  reached,  the  cost  of  keeping 
up  the  main  catalog  and  its  supplements  must  al- 


PLANNING   THE   CATALOG  49 

ways  be  in  mind.  This  cost,  as  was  said  in  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter,  is  not  alone  that  of 
manufacture — it  includes  space,  filing,  and  main- 
tenance. To  make  fully  available  whatever  work 
is  done  is  as  important  as  to  undertake  new  projects. 


Chapter  IV 
ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CATALOGING  FORCE 

The  organization  of  the  cataloging  force  will 
naturally  vary  with  the  number  of  catalogers, 
the  character  of  the  library,  the  degree  of  minute- 
ness of  the  work,  etc.  Even  when  the  force 
is  very  small,  it  is  well  to  have  definite  responsi- 
bilities for  each  member,  and  a  careful  division  of 
the  work.  Certain  classes  of  decisions — and  all 
cataloging  work,  aside  from  mere  duplicating,  con- 
sists of  decisions — should  be  left  to  the  librarian 
in  a  small  library.  For  example,  whenever  the 
rules  prescribe  the  following  of  the  "best  known 
form"  of  name,  or  give  similar  doubtful  direc- 
tions the  decision  should  be  put  up  to  the  head 
librarian,  if  for  no  other  reason,  that  he  may  not 
be  ignorant  of  the  library's  practice  in  dubious 
matters.  In  larger  libraries  he  will  not,  in  all 
probability,  have  time  to  devote  to  such  details, 
but  will  transfer  the  responsibility  to  the  head 
cataloger. 

Head  cataloger.  Whenever  there  are  two  or 
more  catalogers,  one  must  be  given  the  place  of 
authority.  As  soon  as  the  force  increases  to  half  a 
dozen  or  more,  definite  subdivision  of  the  work  and 
consequent   organization   will   be   essential.     The 

50 


ORGANIZATION   OF  THE  CATALOGING   FORCE    51 

head  cataloger  must  necessarily  lay  out  the  work 
for  his  force,  revise  some  portions  of  it,  and  main- 
tain a  close  general  supervision.  It  will  be  found 
possible,  by  the  use  of  the  Library  of  Congress 
printed  cards  as  authority  in  matters  of  entry,  to 
diminish  much  of  the  work  done  of  old  by  head  cata- 
logers  in  determining  author  entries.  Any  reliable 
cataloger  can  ascertain  the  form  already  adopted 
in  conformity  with  the  American  Library  Associa- 
tion rules  in  the  Library  of  Congress  catalog,  and 
can  indicate  it  for  the  rest  of  the  force  by  checking 
the  titlepage.  This  will  dispose  of  a  very  large  por- 
tion of  the  work  of  deciding  on  main  entries,  and 
will  enable  the  head  cataloger  to  use  the  time  thus 
freed  for  careful  revision  of  the  work  of  his  sub- 
ordinates, particularly  in  the  field  of  subject  cata- 
loging where  experience  and  knowledge  count  for 
so  much.  It  should  be  the  rule  of  the  library  that 
every  subject  heading  should  be  passed  on  finally 
by  the  head  cataloger,  or  his  chief  assistant.  An- 
other very  common  rule  is  that  all  work  when  com- 
pleted shall  come  to  him  for  final  inspection. 

Revision.  Revision  of  preliminary  work  should 
be  rigidly  insisted  on,  and  revision  of  all  copying 
work  must  necessarily  be  a  part  of  cataloging  rou- 
tine.^    No  card  should  go  into  the  catalog  which 

1  It  is  this  necessity  for  revision  of  the  copying  which  con- 
sumes so  much  time  and  strength  that  has  led  to  various 
efforts  to  have  cataloging  done  directly  on  the  flexotype, 


52  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

has  not  been  scrutinized  by  another  than  the  person 
who  made  it.  This  rule  should  apply  to  any  cards 
made  by  the  head  cataloger  as  well  as  to  those  of 
his  subordinates.  Indeed,  the  better  the  chief,  the 
more  likely  is  his  semi-clerical  work  to  stand  in 
need  of  scanning  by  another.  He  may  have  lost 
his  skill  in  tithing  the  mint,  anise  and  cummin  of 
necessary  minutiae  in  the  effort  to  manage  a  force 
almost  always  insufficient  for  the  work  and  to  get 
proper  headings  for  all  his  books. 

Assignment  and  specializing.  Cataloging  calls 
for  a  service  of  varying  degrees  of  knowledge. 
Much  of  the  work  is  clerical — some  of  it  is  even 

hnotype,  or  some  other  machine  which  can  be  at  once  ap- 
plied to  duplication,  with  but  one  revision,  i.e.  the  reading 
of  one  proof.  Certain  persons  have  thought  it  possible  to 
go  farther  and  eliminate  all  copying  and  consequent  revision 
by  using  some  form  of  photographic  process  to  reproduce 
on  a  standard  size,  sensitized  plate  an  impression  from 
which  printing  can  be  done.  Another  possibility  may  per- 
haps lie  in  the  direction  of  photographing  a  titlepage  di- 
rectly on  a  sensitized  paper  of  proper  size  and  thickness 
which  can  be  used  as  a  catalog  card.  However,  these  at- 
tractive schemes  have  not  as  yet  been  reduced  to  prac- 
ticality, although  the  flexotype  and  similar  forms  of  inex- 
pensive typesetting  and  duplicating  machinery  eflfect  a 
great  saving  in  comparatively  simple  cataloging  work,  and 
may  well  be  introduced  in  libraries  having  any  considerable 
amount  of  direct  and  simple  cataloging.  When  once  the 
element  of  time  in  preparation  becomes  of  more  moment 
than  time  in  reproduction,  the  value  of  such  machines 
diminishes. 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   CATALOGING   FORCE     53 

manual,  as  the  pasting  on  of  labels.  At  the  other 
end  of  the  scale  is  the  need  for  linguistic  ability, 
bibliographic  training,  competent  judgment  on 
recondite  subjects.  An  iinproper  organization  of 
the  force  will  compel  the  man  who  uses  half  a  dozen 
languages  and  knows  the  literature  of  as  many 
subjects  to  do  the  work  of  a  typewriter  or  a  mere 
clerk,  or  on  the  other  hand  will  permit  a  recent 
high  school  graduate  to  decide  the  subject  entry 
for  the  latest  physical  chemistry  or  treatise  on 
elliptic  functions.  Good  cataloging  costs  money. 
Cheap  cataloging  is  always  expensive  in  the  end. 
The  librarian  and  the  head  cataloger  between  them 
must  therefore  fit  the  force  to  the  work  so  as  to 
use  skilled  labor  to  the  best  advantage,  and  not  to 
waste  it. 

It  is  impossible  to  lay  down  fixed  rules  for  the 
details  of  organization  of  a  department  which 
must  necessarily  vary  with  each  institution  and 
its  needs.  If  the  principles  noted  above,  definite 
responsibility,  careful  assignment  of  duties,  and 
unceasing  revision  are  followed,  the  work  can  not 
well  go  wrong. 

Statistics.  Reports  of  the  total  work  done  in 
each  cataloging  force  should  be  required  by  the 
library  management.  These  can  best  be  compiled 
from  the  reports  of  the  individual  catalogers  to  their 
immediate  chief.  As  a  rule  these  are  made  on 
blank  forms  of  the  size  of  a  standard  card. 


54  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

The  minimum  on  which  reports  should  be  re- 
quired seems  to  be:  (1)  number  of  main  entry 
cards;  (2)  number  of  added  entries  indicated  or 
made;  (3)  number  of  " analyticals "  and  cards 
involved;  (4)  number  of  former  entries  investi- 
gated; (5)  amount  of  revision.  Catalogers  can 
keep  the  account  day  by  day  and  hand  in  the  re- 
ports as  desired,  either  weekly  or  monthly. 

It  is  manifestly  unfair  to  the  catalogers,  as  most 
of  our  libraries  go,  to  make  these  reports  the  basis 
of  comparison  between  individuals.  The  work  is 
never  of  the  same  difficulty,  the  same  duration, 
the  same  amount.  No  one  sits  at  a  desk  day  by 
day,  hour  by  hour,  turning  out  catalog  cards.  The 
very  nature  of  the  work  demands  a  great  variety 
of  study  and  time  on  different  books.  One  may 
prove  a  problem  which  requires  hours  of  investi- 
gation, comparison  of  authorities,  balanced  judg- 
ment, consultation  of  numerous  precedents  in  the 
library's  practice.  For  another  book  equally 
difficult  of  decision  the  Library  of  Congress  card 
file  may  give  the  proper  form  with  but  a  moment's 
labor.  In  any  library,  catalogers  having  special 
equipment  may  be  called  on — and  should  be — to 
aid  in  reference  work.  Moreover,  the  person 
assigning  work  can  directly  influence  the  record  of 
the  individual  cataloger  by  the  nature  of  that 
assignment.     The  time  expended  in  the  revision 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   CATALOGING   FORCE     55 

of  the  work  of  a  careless  colleague  will  of  course 
cause  the  reviser's  output  to  dwindle.  The  reports 
are  decidedly  valuable  in  recording  the  sum  of  the 
work  done,  in  estimating  the  probable  capacity 
of  the  office.  They  are  seldom,  even  when  taken 
for  long  periods,  a  true  reflection  of  the  cataloging 
ability  of  the  various  members  of  the  force.^ 

Budget.  The  portion  of  the  income  of  the  library 
which  may  properly  be  devoted  to  the  work  of  cata- 
loging is  primarily  a  matter  of  general  administra- 
tion. At  this  point,  it  may,  however,  be  remarked 
that  the  quality  of  the  cataloging  work,  as  well  as 
its  quantity,  demands  consideration.  Poorly  paid 
catalogers  produce  catalogs  badly  made,  badly 
revised,  incomplete  and  inconsistent.  The  work 
of  every  user  of  the  library  is  rendered  less  effective 

2  For  example,  I  recall  that  six  books  in  an  unknown 
tongue  once  fell  to  my  lot  to  catalog.  There  was  on  the  title- 
pages  absolutely  no  clue  to  the  language.  The  imprint  was 
finally  discovered  to  be  Copenhagen.  By  a  process  of 
elimination  lasting  several  hours,  it  was  at  length  decided 
that  they  must  be  in  some  American  language.  They 
proved  to  be  books  in  Eskimo  printed  by  the  Danish  mis- 
sionaries to  Greenland  in  the  late  eighteenth  century,  but 
it  took  the  spare  time  of  several  days  and  much  consultation 
of  dictionaries  of  the  modern  Alaskan  Innuit  to  arrive  at  an 
approximation  to  a  translation  of  the  titlepages  and  the 
consequent  classification  and  cataloging. 

How  many  English  or  American  novels  could  have  been 
done  in  that  time? 


56  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

as  a  consequence,  and  the  reputation  of  the  institu- 
tion deservedly  suffers.  The  time  of  the  higher 
salaried  employees  is  frequently  all  but  consumed 
in  an  effort  to  atone  for  and  revise  errors  and  blun- 
ders. A  catalog  department  must  of  course  be 
so  organized  as  to  make  every  use  of  modern  cooper- 
ative methods,  of  mechanical  duplication,  of  time- 
and  labor-saving  devices.  The  head  and  his  aids 
must  discriminate  between  needless  refinements  of 
collation  and  notes  and  the  essential  elements  in 
the  description  of  a  book.  Even  so,  the  cost  will 
be  heavy,  and  there  is  always  a  tendency — more 
pronounced  in  these  days  of  library  extension — to 
cut  the  cataloging  cost  at  the  expense  of  ultimate 
efficiency.  If  the  various  processes  of  preparing  a 
book  for  the  shelves  are  so  ordered  and  correlated 
that  entry  is  determined  at  the  beginning,  descrip- 
tion once  made  is  mechanically  repeated  in  other 
records,  the  apparent  cost  will  produce  a  real  sav- 
ing. In  other  words,  cataloging  should  precede 
accessioning,  shelf-listing,  classifying,  binding.  The 
simplifying  of  those  processes  which  will  result 
is  much  greater  than  would  be  supposed  by  those 
who  have  followed  each  in  turn  separately  from  the 
others.  When  the  question,  "  How  shall  this  book 
be  entered?"  is  decided,  much  of  the  mental  effort 
now  given  to  the  making  of  various  records  disap- 
pears, to  say  nothing  of  the  practical  value  in 
shortening  labor  of  the  notes,  series  entries,  refer- 


ORGANIZATION    OF   THE   CATALOGING   FORCE     57 

ences,  included  on  the  card  or  added  to  the  title- 
page.* 

Cataloging  is  in  a  transition  period  at  the  present 
time.  The  proportion  of  the  total  income  needed 
for  this  work  is  certainly  in  excess  of  what  it  will  be 
when  all  cards  can  be  got  when  the  books  are 
bought.  In  the  meantime  it  is  foolish  to  cut  ap- 
propriations severely  for  the  sake  of  entering  more 
attractive  fields. 

QUALIFICATIONS 

Accuracy.  The  conditions  under  which  cata- 
loging work  must  be  done  vary  to  such  a  degree 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  lay  down  even 
minimum  requirements.  Even  more  difficult  is  it 
to  divine  from  standards  set  up  and  from  recom- 
mendations of  candidates  the  one  underlying  and 
essential  characteristic — accuracy.  No  amount  of 
training  and  no  extent  of  study  can  make  a  person 
of  an  habitually  inaccurate  turn  of  mind  a  good 
cataloger.  Accuracy  in  transcribing,  in  compiling 
notes  of  authorities,  in  copying,  in  everything,  in 
short,  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  success.     Accuracy  or 

'  On  the  cost  of  cataloging  see  my  articles  (previously 
cited)  in  Library  Journal,  v.  30,  p.  10-14,  v.  31,  p.  270-271, 
in  which  it  is  shown  that  cataloging  costs  can  be  figured 
in  time  and  results,  but  hardly  in  money,  as  not  only  do 
salaries  vary,  but  the  kinds  of  work  other  than  cataloging, 
strictly  so-called,  done  by  the  various  employees  vary 
greatly  in  different  institutions. 


58  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

its  reverse  are  more  truly  matters  of  habit  and 
disposition  than  of  training.  An  accurate  and 
exact  temperament  is  more  to  be  sought  for  in 
prospective  catalogers  than  any  other  one  thing. 

Certain  minimum  requirements  almost  go  with- 
out saying.  For  even  the  minor  positions  at  least 
a  high  school  education  plus  some  sort  of  training 
is  necessarily  demanded.  As  one  goes  up  on  the 
scale  of  positions,  the  requirements  naturally  rise. 
Competent  catalogers  in  libraries  of  the  scholarly 
type  must  have  had  college  training  and  in  addition 
either  a  good  library  school  course  or  careful  in- 
struction in  a  good  library.  The  higher  work — 
particularly  that  of  revision — demands  a  man  or 
woman  of  scholarly  attainments,  knowledge  of 
several  languages,  and  more  than  a  modicum  of 
both  training  and  experience. 

Linguistic  ability  is  more  than  ever  needed.  In 
these  days  of  rapid  growth  of  libraries  even  the 
public  libraries  maintained  by  the  cities  contain 
numerous  books  in  German  and  French,  and  many 
have  large  numbers  both  in  the  ancient  languages 
and  in  those  of  eastern  and  southern  Europe.  The 
number  of  books  in  languages  other  than  English 
is  almost  certain  to  increase.  A  cataloger  who  can 
be  used  only  on  plain  work  in  English  becomes  less 
useful  as  the  years  go  on. 

At  present  such  catalogers,  if  they  profit  by  ex- 
perience, will  doubtless  continue  in  their  work  be- 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   CATALOGING   FORCE     59 

cause  of  the  value  of  this  very  experience.  But 
persons  expecting  to  enter  on  cataloging  work 
should  acquire  a  good  reading  knowledge  of  French 
and  German  as  a  minimum,  and  will  do  well  to  add 
to  it  as  much  as  they  can  learn  of  other  languages. 

General  information.  To  linguistic  ability  one 
may  add  that  baffling  qualification — general  infor- 
mation. This  is  supposed  to  be  evidenced  by  the 
number  of  years  that  have  been  spent  in  school  or 
college.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  length  of  time  thus 
spent  is  no  indication  whatever  of  the  mental  atti- 
tude of  a  candidate.  Some  experience  of  the  world 
of  people  as  distinct  from  that  of  books  is  no  mean 
help  in  cataloging  books — for  people.  A  librarian 
seeking  a  new  cataloger  will  do  very  well  to  ask 
about  the  attitude  of  the  various  candidates  toward 
people  and  things — about  general  information  and 
savoir  faire.  Naturally  he  must  ask  people  who 
know.  Consequently  he  can  not  ask  the  candi- 
dates. Some  of  their  "references"  will  generally, 
however,  be  in  a  position  to  give  a  discriminating 
opinion. 

"Book-sense."  Another  quality  which  defies  defi- 
nition and  is  equally  hard  to  discover  in  advance 
may  be  termed  "book-sense."  To  some  people 
'books  are  books" — and  nothing  more.  Bookish- 
ness  is  generally  offensive  in  itself  and  of  very  little 
aid  in  cataloging  or  reference  work.  But  "book- 
sense,"  if  the  term  may  be  allowed,  is  something 


60  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

very  different  from  bookishness.  It  is  an  ability 
to  move  quickly  and  easily  among  printed  things 
with  an  instinctive  appreciation  of  values.  It 
comes  to  people  who  have  lived  with  books  from 
childhood  but  who  have  never  regarded  them  as  an 
end  in  themselves.  A  man  or  woman  without 
"book-sense"  is  utterly  out  of  place  in  a  library. 
Some  people  never  get  it — they  had  best  go  to  sell- 
ing groceries  or  pounding  typewriters.  This  qual- 
ity must  be  sought  for — but  there  is  no  way  of 
putting  it  into  application  blanks.  Again  resort 
must  be  had  to  the  discriminating  person  who 
knows  the  candidate. 

Library  schools.  This  leads  naturally  to  men- 
tion of  the  work  of  the  library  schools.  Librarians 
are  looking  more  and  more  to  these  institutions 
for  trained  helpers,  particularly  in  cataloging. 
They  do  not,  however,  all  teach  cataloging  equally 
well.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  theory  that 
is  taught,  the  amount  of  practice  work  done,  and 
in  the  quality  of  the  instruction  in  cataloging. 
Much  more  varied  is  the  work  of  apprentice 
classes,  which  seldom  go  beyond  the  mere  mechan- 
ical rudiments  of  cataloging.  It  will  not  do  to 
take  the  mere  fact  of  some  professional  training 
without  scrutiny — at  least  in  the  somewhat  un- 
formed condition  of  our  present  means  for  afford- 
ing training  in  librarianship. 

The  whole  matter,  then,   of  qualifications  for 


ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   CATALOGING   FORCE     61 

catalogers  resolves  itself  into  two  elements — the 
qualifications  which  can  be  put  on  paper  by  an 
applicant  and  those  which  can  not.  There  will  be 
a  certain  minimum  of  the  first  which  must  be  re- 
quired of  all  candidates,  rising  with  the  complexity 
of  the  work  and  the  nature  of  the  library.  The 
qualifications  of  the  second  class  must  be  ascer- 
tained by  report  of  trusted  persons  or  by  observa- 
tion. A  probationary  period  for  newly  appointed 
assistants  would  seem,  therefore,  an  essential  part 
of  a  library's  organization. 

SALARIES 

What  salaries  can  good  catalogers  command? 
This  is  wholly  a  relative  matter — not  one  to  which 
a  positive  answer  can  be  given.  The  varying  cost  of 
living  in  different  sections,  the  general  divergences 
between  salaries  in  city  and  country  come  in  to  pre- 
vent definiteness.  If  the  library  has  a  scheme  of 
classification  of  its  service  which  provides  for  pro- 
motion from  one  grade  to  another  with  satisfactory 
service  of  a  given  length,  the  catalogers  will  not 
come  low  in  the  scale.  The  value  of  successful 
experience  will  of  course  be  recognized  in  such  a 
scheme,  in  addition  to  preliminary  training.  There 
will  be  junior  and  senior  catalogers,  and  assistants 
of  various  grades.  At  present,  so  far  as  can  be 
learned  from  somewhat  extensive  inquiry,  heads  of 
catalog  departments  receive  salaries  varying  from 


62  MODERN    LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

$1200  to  $3000  in  different  types  and  grades  of 
libraries.  Senior  catalogers  with  good  training  and 
long  experience  range  from  $900  to  $2400,  while 
juniors  receive  from  $600  to  $1200.  The  variety 
in  work,  institutions,  scale  of  salaries  and  of  living 
is  thus  evident.  Few  institutions  of  any  consider- 
able size  pay  the  smallest  sums  quoted,  and  equally 
few  the  largest.  The  average  is  probably  about 
$1800  for  head  of  the  catalog  work,  $1200  for  senior 
catalogers,  and  $800  for  junior  catalogers. 

HOURS 

Seven  hours  daily  is  usually  regarded  as  the 
maximum  of  successful  cataloging  work.  Beyond 
that  amount  come  in  eye-strain,  physical  fatigue, 
loss  of  judgment  to  hinder  a  satisfactory  output. 
The  quality  of  the  work  suffers  severely,  if  a  longer 
day  is  attempted.  Indeed  it  is  such  a  well  known 
fact  of  psychology  that  accuracy  and  judgment  fail 
with  fatigue  that  many  librarians  deliberately  vary 
the  cataloger's  work.  In  some  libraries  the  change 
comes  in  substituting  another  sort  of  work  for  a 
portion  of  each  day.  In  others  the  variety  is 
attained  by  transferring  catalogers  to  other  de- 
partments for  a  portion  of  each  year.  It  is  highly 
advisable  that  a  certain  amount  of  service  in  refer- 
ence work  be  given  catalogers  wherever  it  is  prac- 
tical. The  reaction  on  the  cataloging  work  is 
generally  very  helpful. 


Chapter  V 
THE  USE  OF  PRINTED  CATALOG  CARDS 

The  two  kinds  of  modern  cataloging  practice. 

Catalogs  were  formerly  made  by  each  institution 
for  itself.  Today  over  50  per  cent  of  the  cards 
needed  for  an  American  university  library,  and 
nearly  90  per  cent  of  those  for  a  public  library  can 
be  purchased  and  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  indi- 
vidual library.  The  methods  of  this  adaptation 
are  discussed  in  this  chapter.  Each  year  the  per- 
centage of  cards  available  grows — perhaps  in  a 
decade  the  need  for  making  more  than  a  small 
number  of  cards  will  have  passed  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  various  agencies  for  manufacturing 
card  entries  for  both  new  and  old  books. 

The  need  at  present  for  skill  in  cataloging  in 
the  library  is  still  so  great  that  Chapter  VI  is 
devoted  to  a  consideration  of  some  of  the  guiding 
principles  of  that  work.  In  a  comparatively  short 
time,  however,  much  of  the  time  and  money  now 
necessarily  given  to  cataloging  can  be  freed  to  a 
large  extent  by  the  purchase  of  cards  for  each  book 
added  to  the  library's  collections. 

Catalog  rules.  The  use  of  printed  cards  from  a 
central  source  of  course  implies  the  adoption  of 
identical  rules  of  cataloging.     The  American  Li- 

63 


64  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

brary  Association  therefore  in  1900  appointed  a 
committee  on  cataloging  rules  which  worked  for 
several  years  at  this  problem,  joining  finally  with 
a  similar  committee  of  the  Library  Association  of 
the  United  Kingdom  in  issuing  "Catalog  rules: 
author  and  title  entries.  Boston,  1908."  This 
code  is  largely  followed  in  American  libraries,  and 
as  the  basis  for  the  preparation  of  the  Library  of 
Congress  printed  cards  should  be  generally  adopted 
by  libraries  engaged  in  making  new  catalogs  or 
remodeling  old  ones.  It  is  of  course  possible  for 
a  library  which  has  not  adopted  the  code  of  1908  to 
use  the  printed  cards  to  some  extent  without  en- 
gaging in  extensive  alterations  or  changes  of  old 
entries.  The  fullest  benefit,  however,  can  only  be 
gained  by  following  the  same  rules  in  purchased  and 
"home-made"  entries. 

If  an  international  agreement  of  wider  scope  is 
ever  reached,  it  will  probably  not  be  necessary  to 
make  very  extensive  changes  in  existing  catalogs, 
just  because  the  printed  cards  have  purposely  been 
made  with  sufficient  space  between  the  top  and  the 
heading  to  permit  the  writing  in  of  different  forms 
of  entry. 

Cards.  The  standard  size  card,  approximately 
5  by  3  inches  (12.5  x  7.5  cm.)  is  now  used  exclusively. 
Odd  sizes  (which  seem  to  have  an  irresistible  fasci- 
nation for  the  amateur)  are  in  catalogs  a  positive 
harm,  as  they  prevent  the  adoption  of  printed 


PRINTED  CATALOG   CARDS  65 

cards  for  use  in  the  same  catalog.  The  thinner 
cards  are  now  much  more  used  than  formerly. 
Cheap  card  stock  does  not  hold  its  color  well  nor 
take  a  lasting  ink  with  good  results  and  moreover  it 
is  likely  to  break  on  top  and  to  be  cut  unevenly;  it 
is  therefore  advisable  to  use  high  grade  linen  card- 
board. The  Library  of  Congress  cards  are  of 
medium  thickness  and  of  excellent  white  stock,  to 
which  it  is  desirable  that  the  other  cards  in  the  cata- 
log should  conform  as  nearly  as  possible. 

PRINTED    CARDS    FROM    THE    LIBRARY    OF 
CONGRESS 

In  planning  to  make  as  full  use  as  possible  of  the 
printed  cards  from  the  Library  of  Congress  the 
beginner  will  find  it  indispensable  to  study  thor- 
oughly the  Handbook  of  Card  Distribution  and  the 
Bulletins  of  the  Card  Section  as  well  as  the  pam- 
phlet "Library  of  Congress  Printed  Cards;  How  to 
order  and  use  them,  by  C.  H.  Hastings.  Washing- 
ton, Govt.  Print.  Office,  1914."  These  may  be 
obtained  by  writing  to  the  Librarian  of  Congress. 
It  would  perhaps  be  well  to  correspond  with  the 
Card  Section  of  the  Library  before  beginning  to 
work  out  a  method  of  using  the  cards  in  a  "special " 
or  a  small  library. 

Number  of  cards  to  be  ordered.  In  any  case 
the  librarian  should  determine  in  advance  as  well 
as  may  be  the  various  uses  to  which  he  can  profit- 


66  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

ably  put  Library  of  Congress  cards.  Of  course,  he 
must  consider  that  ordinarily  he  will  have  to  make 
the  same  number  of  cards  himself  to  represent 
books  for  which  he  can  not  obtain  printed  cards. 
If  he  has  no  cheap  means  of  duplicating  entries  this 
is  a  very  serious  matter.  Cards  can  well  be  used 
for  (1)  main  entry,  (2)  a  varying  number  of  added 
entries  (subjects,  titles,  references,  editor  and  trans- 
lator cards,  etc.),  (3)  entry  in  official  catalog,  (4) 
shelf-lists,  (5)  departmental  or  special  catalogs. 
In  libraries  devoted  to  specialties  there  may  well  be 
other  uses,  and  in  libraries  having  many  branches 
or  departments,  there  will  naturally  be  a  larger 
number  of  copies  for  the  various  catalogs.  He 
should  also  determine  how  far  he  can  use  cards  for 
slightly  varying  editions,  imprints,  etc.,  although 
this  must  naturally  be  a  matter  which  will  settle 
itself  practically  as  the  system  comes  into  operation. 
Ordering.  The  chief  difficulty  in  using  Library 
of  Congress  cards  lies  in  the  process  of  ordering 
them.  Each  year  the  stock  of  available  cards  in- 
creases by  from  50,000  to  55,000  titles,  and  there 
are  now  (1914)  over  650,000  titles  in  stock.  As  all 
are  stored  and  arranged  by  their  serial  number,  the 
cheapest  and  most  rapid  method  of  picking  them  out 
is  by  means  of  an  order  bearing  this  number.  Ac- 
cordingly the  minimum  charge  (two  cents  each)  is 
made  for  orders  by  number  of  the  cards.  This 
number  may  be  obtained  in  various  ways.  There 
are  depository  sets  of  the  entire  stock  of  printed 


PRINTED    CATALOG    CARDS  67 

cards  in  most  of  the  larger  cities  in  the  country.  By- 
consulting  one  of  these  files  it  is  possible  to  ascertain 
definitely  that  a  card  has  been  printed  for  a  given 
book  and  to  note  its  number.  Certain  libraries 
which  are  not  depositories  or  subscribers  to  the 
entire  set  of  printed  cards  subscribe  to  the  cards 
covering  certain  subjects,  as  American  history. 
Still  others  purchase  (for  about  $30  a  year)  a  com- 
plete set  of  the  manila  paper  proofsheets  of  the 
cards  as  issued,  cut  them  up  (they  cut  readily  to 
card  size),  and  file  them.  In  this  way  a  complete 
or  partial  set  may  be  obtained  at  a  slight  initial 
cost,  plus  a  moderate  labor  cost.  There  is  some 
additional  advantage  in  the  saving  of  space  over 
that  occupied  by  the  cards,  which  are  of  course 
thicker.  But  the  manila  paper  slips  are  not 
handled  or^onsulted  as  readily  as  cards.  While  the 
bibliographical  value  of  such  a  list  is  its  chief  ad- 
vantage, the  facility  with  which  desired  card  num- 
bers may  be  secured  adds  greatly  to  its  usefulness. 
The  process  of  securing  the  card  number  by  a 
search  of  the  file  of  cards  or  proof  slips  is  laborious, 
but  it  has  several  advantages;  First,  the  element  of 
uncertainty  as  to  whether  cards  may  be  had  is 
thus  removed  in  a  very  great  percent  of  the  books 
to  be  cataloged.  There  will  occur  cases  of  books 
not  represented  in  the  file  by  cards  which  are  just 
being  cataloged  at  Washington  at  the  time  the  file 
is  consulted,  but  these  cases  are  not  numerous  for 
the  average  library.    Second,  the  number  of  subject 


68  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

and  reference  cards  needed  is  definitely  ascertained; 
Third,  the  cost  of  the  cards  is  slightly  lessened  by 
ordering  by  number ;  Fourth,  and  most  important; 
even  if  a  card  for  the  particular  work  is  not  found 
in  the  printed  card  file,  frequently  there  are  found 
cards  for  other  works  by  the  same  author,  and  the 
proper  entry  is  thereby  determined  without  further 
bibliographic  search.  This  last  item  often  saves  as 
much  time  as  is  consumed  in  the  routine  search  for 
a  large  number  of  titles. 

Where  no  file  of  Library  of  Congress  printed 
cards  is  easily  accessible  there  are  other  means  of 
securing  the  serial  number  and  avoiding  delay  and 
expense  by  its  use.  The  monthly  American  Li- 
brary Association  Booklist  contains  the  card  num- 
ber for  each  book  described.  The  Cumulative 
Book  Index  published  by  the  H.  W.  Wilson  Com- 
pany of  Minneapolis  and  the  United  States  Catalog 
of  Books  in  Print,  January,  1912,  give  the  card 
number  in  a  very  large  percent  of  entries.  The 
various  lists  published  by  the  Library  of  Congress, 
including  the  Catalogue  of  Copyright  Entries, 
now  give  the  card  number  in  most  cases.  Among 
these  lists  the  most  commonly  used  is  probably  the 
Monthly  List  of  State  Publications,  while  the  cur- 
rent bibliographic  lists  of  recent  years  give  the  card 
number  regularly. 

When  the  number  has  once  been  found  it  should 
be  written  on  a  standard  size  slip  bearing  the  name 
of  the  library  at  the  bottom.     The  number  of  copies 


PRINTED    CATALOG   CARDS  69 

of  the  card  desired  is  indicated  by  drawing  a  dash 
or  a  slanting  line  after  the  card  number  followed  by 
the  number  of  copies.  The  author's  name  may  be 
placed  in  the  upper  right  hand  corner,  to  identify 
the  book  in  case  the  slip  is  returned,  showing  that 
cards  are  not  at  once  available. 


Sample  order  slip 

Brown 

5-16381/4 

Homeville  Public  Library. 

In  case  the  number  is  not  known,  the  author, 
title,  and  imprint  may  be  written  on  a  similar  card 
instead  of  the  card  number,  the  number  of  copies 
being  indicated  in  the  upper  right  hand  corner. 


Sample  order  slip 

4 

Fox,  John, 
Little  Shepherd  of  Kingdom  Come 
N.  Y.,  Scribner's,  1903. 

Homeville  Public  Library. 

70  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

In  each  case  it  is  important  to  indicate  the  num- 
ber of  copies  of  the  card  desired.  Librarians  will 
find  it  profitable  to  order  generously,  as  the  expense 
of  additional  cards  is  so  slight  ($.008  each),  in  com- 
parison with  the  cost  of  ordering  a  second  time,  or 
of  writing  copies  of  the  card  when  a  sufficient  num- 
ber has  not  been  ordered.  All  slips  should  be  ar- 
ranged in  numerical  or  alphabetical  order  before  being 
sent  to  the  Library  of  Congress. 

Accounting.  On  beginning  to  use  printed  cards 
a  deposit  must  be  made  with  the  Librarian  of  Con- 
gress through  the  Card  Distribution  Section. 
Cards  ordered  are  charged  against  this  deposit  and 
statements  are  sent  with  each  shipment  of  cards. 
From  time  to  time  the  deposit  must  be  renewed  as 
it  approaches  exhaustion.  Consult  the  Handbook 
of  Card  Distribution  for  details. 

Ordering  cards  when  book  is  ordered.  It  is 
feasible  to  order  the  cards  from  Washington  when 
the  books  are  ordered  from  the  dealer  without  wait- 
ing to  have  the  volumes  actually  in  hand.  In  case 
the  card  numbers  can  be  found,  the  orders  may  be 
sent  in  the  u.sual  way.  If  facilities  are  wanting  for 
ascertaining  the  card  numbers,  there  are  two 
methods  open  to  the  library  purchasing  cards. 
Slips  like  the  one  shown  above,  giving  the  author 
and  title,  etc.  may  be  written  for  each  item  to  be 
bought,  or  duplicates  of  the  library's  order-sheets 
to  the  dealer  may  be  sent  as  orders  for  cards.     On 


PRINTED    CATALOG    CARDS  71 

such  sheets  the  orders  should  be  arranged  alpha- 
betically by  authors,  and  sufficiently  full  descrip- 
tion of  the  books  given  to  insure  accuracy  in  filling 
the  order. 

When  cards  so  ordered  arrive  in  the  library  they 
should  be  filed  in  a  case  in  the  catalog  room  to  await 
the  arrival  of  the  books.  It  is  a  great  convenience 
to  place  on  the  order  sheets  or  slips  some  arbitrary 
symbol  to  indicate  that  Library  of  Congress  cards 
have  been  ordered.  If  this  symbol  is  written  in 
pencil  in  a  designated  place  in  the  book  when  the 
bill  is  checked  up  with  the  books,  the  catalogers  will 
know  at  once  without  further  search  that  cards 
are  presumably  waiting  for  it  in  the  file.  If  the 
symbol  is  not  found  in  the  book  in  its  regular  place, 
a  second  search  should  be  made  for  the  number  of 
the  printed  card,  and  if  not  found,  either  an  author 
and  title  order  should  be  sent  to  Washington,  Or 
the  cards  must  be  made  in  the  library.  ^ 

If  printed  cards  are  not  to  be  had,  the  returned 
card  order  slip  bearing  that  statement  may  be 
filed  in  the  place  which  the  printed  cards  would 
have  occupied  in  the  file  of  cards  awaiting  books 
in  the  catalog  room.  If  copies  of  the  sheets  sent 
to  the  dealer  are  used  in  ordering  cards,  the  fact 
that  the  printed  cards  can  not  be  obtained  can  also 

'  The  Greek  letter  <p  makes  a  convenient  symbol  for  such 
purposes.  It  is  written  with  one  motion,  means  nothing  to 
the  uninitiated,  and  therefore  need  not  be  erased. 


72  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

be  noted  by  means  of  an  arbitrary  symbol  on  the 
copy  retained  for  comparison  with  the  book  dealer's 
invoice.  The  symbol  may  then  be  placed  in  the 
book,  and  the  catalogers  will  know  at  once  that 
cards  must  be  written  for  that  book  in  the  library. 
The  Card  Section  of  the  Library  of  Congress  always 
returns  the  order,  so  that  clerical  labor  is  thereby 
saved  to  both  parties. 

Ordering  from  "traveling  catalogs."  Libraries 
which  are  recataloging  their  collections,  or  any  large 
part  of  them,  may  arrange  to  have  "traveling  cata- 
logs" of  groups  of  books  in  the  Library  of  Congress 
sent  to  them  for  the  purpose  of  ordering  cards  for 
recataloging.  This  must  naturally  be  a  matter  of 
special  agreement.  It  has  proven  a  highly  useful 
device  when  any  very  large  number  of  books  is  to 
be  recataloged,  and  the  library  is  not  a  depository 
for  the  set  of  printed  cards. 

Scope  of  the  Library  of  Congress  stock  of  printed 
cards.  The  stock  of  printed  cards  of  the  Library 
of  Congress  now  (1914)  exceeds  650,000  titles. 
Over  50,000  titles  are  added  annually.  The  stock 
includes  (1)  Practically  all  books  copyrighted  in 
the  United  States  since  July,  1898.  (2)  All  classes 
of  books  in  the  library  except  Religion,  Law,  and 
some  minor  groups.  In  these  classes,  cards  can  be 
had  for  books  copyrighted  since  July,  1898,  and  for 
most  books  purchased  since  June,  1901.  These 
exceptions  are  steadily  being  diminished  in  number 


PRINTED   CATALOG   CARDS  73 

as  the  re-cataloging  progresses.  Further  excep- 
tions are  numerous  *'analyticals"  and  entries  for 
parts  of  series,  the  cataloging  of  which  has  neces- 
sarily been  deferred  until  the  completion  of  the 
bulk  of  the  main  entries. 

In  American  History  and  in  Bibliography  the 
Library  of  Congress  is  especially  rich.  In  other 
classes  it  is  strong  in  works  in  English,  but  not  so 
complete  in  foreign  works.  It  possesses  and  has 
cataloged  by  far  the  largest  collection  of  official 
publications  of  governments,  national  and  local,  in 
the  United  States.  It  has  rich  special  collections, 
such  as  Music,  Maps,  and  Prints,  for  large  portions 
of  which  printed  cards  are  available.  The  special- 
ized library,  therefore,  using  printed  cards  from  the 
Library  of  Congress  will  not  find  entries  for  all  its 
books.  A  public  library,  particularly  a  small  one, 
can  usually  obtain  over  ninety  percent  of  its  cards 
from  Washington.  The  small  college  library  can 
ordinarily  secure  cards  for  over  sixty  percent  of  its 
accessions.  The  great  university  libraries  secure 
as  yet  only  about  half  the  cards  needed  for  their 
accessions. 

Of  late  the  Library  of  Congress  has  been  printing 
for  other  libraries  cards  representing  books  not  in 
its  own  collections.  This  practice  has  increased 
the  stock  by  some  eight  thousand  titles  yearly. 
Cards  are  also  printed  for  several  of  the  larger 
government    libraries    in    Washington,    including 


74  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

those  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  Bureau 
of  Education,  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries  and  the 
Geological  Survey.  How  far  this  feature  may  be 
developed  remains  to  be  seen,  but  the  prospect  for 
securing  a  printed  card  for  practically  every  new 
book  brightens  daily. 

Printed  cards  from  other  libraries.  A  consider- 
able number  of  American  and  foreign  libraries  now 
print  cards  for  all  or  part  of  their  accessions, 
especially  for  books  not  covered  by  Library  of 
Congress  cards.  The  more  important  of  these  are 
The  John  Crerar  Library  of  Chicago,  the  Libra- 
ries of  Harvard  and  Chicago  Universities,  the 
Boston  Public  Library,  the  New  York  Public 
Library,  the  Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburgh,  and 
the  Royal  Libraries  of  Berlin  and  The  Hague.  The 
Berlin  Library  now  sells  its  cards  to  both  regular 
subscribers  and  to  occasional  purchasers,  and  it  is 
possible  that  arrangements  could  be  made  with 
some  or  all  of  the  others  to  supply  cards  to  libraries 
filling  a  special  field.  The  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  there  will  be  some  organization  of  this  now 
scattered  work,  and  printed  cards  may  be  bought 
for  practically  every  book  of  importance.  For  the 
book  of  merely  curious  or  trifling  interest  cards  will 
still  be  made  as  of  old  in  the  library  itself.  Just 
how  the  work  of  combining  orders,  accounts,  and 
shipments  from  several  sources  is  to  be  organized 
remains  of  course  for  the  future.     The  pressure  of 


PRINTED    CATALOG   CARDS  75 

universal  need  and  demand  is  bound  to  produce  the 
result  sought  in  time.^ 

Use  in  the  library.  When  the  book  and  the 
requisite  number  of  printed  cards  for  it  have  been 
brought  together  in  the  library,  there  remain  the 
following  processes : 

1.  Comparison  to  see  that  the  cards  exactly 
correspond  to  the  book  in  every  particular.  If 
they  do  not,  and  there  has  been  no  mistake  in  order- 
ing, changes  may  be  made  in  the  cards  either  by 
drawing  a  heavy  line  in  ink  through  the  words  or 
figures  to  be  changed,  and  then  interpolating  be- 
tween the  lines  or  on  the  margin  the  proper  data,  or 
by  erasing  the  words  to  be  changed.  The  latter  is 
a  difficult  and  lengthy  task,  and  never  leaves  the 
card  in  a  neat  and  satisfactory  appearance. 

2.  Placing  the  classification  number  in  the  upper 
left-hand  corner  of  all  the  cards,  either  with  pen  or 
typewriter. 

3.  Writing  the  subject  and  other  added  entries 
on  the  top  of  the  cards.  If  all  the  added  entries 
indicated  on  the  face  of  the  card  are  not  used,  those 
actually  employed  should  be  checked  on  the  card 
to  go  into  the  official  catalog  in  order  to  render  it 
possible  to  gather  all  the  cards  in  case  of  subsequent 
removal,  changes,  or  additions. 

4.  In  some  libraries  the  accession  number,  or 

*  Cf .  Library  Journal,  January  and  February,  1912. 


76  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

the  order  number,  is  placed  on  the  back  of  each 
card.  This  device  has  certain  decided  advantages, 
particularly  as  a  quick  guide  to  accuracy  in  dis- 
tinguishing editions,  copies,  etc. 

5.  If  the  heading  (main  entry)  has  not  been  com- 
pared with  that  already  adopted  in  the  library  at  the 
time  of  ordering  the  cards,  this  should  be  done  at  the 
outset  in  advance  of  the  routine  processes  just  out- 
lined. It  happens  not  infrequently — particularly 
in  the  older  libraries — that  the  adoption  of  the 
heading  used  by  the  Library  of  Congress  may 
carry  with  it  changes  involving  so  many  cards 
already  in  the  catalog  and  requiring  so  much  work 
as  entirely  to  offset  any  advantage  to  be  gained  by 
the  use  of  the  printed  cards.  In  such  cases  the 
decision  not  to  follow  the  Library  of  Congress  form 
of  entry  (which  is  in  accordance  with  the  Rules  of 
the  American  Library  Association)  does  not  by 
any  means  involve  the  abandonment  of  the  use  of 
the  printed  cards.  The  space  at  the  top  of  the 
card  is  sufficient  to  permit  the  heading  already  in 
use  in  the  library  to  be  written  by  pen  or  typewriter 
above  the  printed  heading,  which  can  be  cancelled 
or  enclosed  in  parentheses. 

6.  The  cards  prepared  for  the  library's  use 
should  be  revised  to  guard  against  clerical  errors, 
and  placed  in  a  box  for  filing,  while  the  books  are 
forwarded  for  labeling  (or  marking  by  any  other 
process),  or  else  sent  directly  to  the  shelves. 


PRINTED   CATALOG   CARDS  77 

Delay  in  receipt.  Delay  occasionally  occurs  in 
filling  orders  for  various  reasons  set  forth  in  the 
Handbook  of  Card  Distribution,  Part  V.  As  a  rule 
new  books  should  not  be  held  for  cataloging  until 
the  arrival  of  the  cards,  but  a  temporary  entry 
of  the  simplest  form  should  be  made  and  filed  in 
the  public  catalog;  of  course  when  the  printed  cards 
arrive  this  temporary  entry  is  removed  and  the 
printed  card  substituted.  After  some  little  ex- 
perience in  the  use  of  printed  cards  catalogers  will 
find  it  easy  to  decide  whether  or  not  to  hold  a  book 
pending  the  arrival  of  printed  cards. 


Chapter  VI 
CATALOGING  METHOD 

RULES   AND    DECISIONS 

Codes.^  Probably  most  libraries  in  English 
speaking  countries  will  wish  to  follow  the  Anglo- 
American  code  adopted  by  the  British  and  Ameri- 

^  Cf.  Cutter,  Charles  Ammi.  Rules  for  a  dictionary 
catalog.  4th  ed.,  rewritten.  Washington,  Govt.  Print. 
Off.,  1904.     173  p.  (U.S.  Bureau  of  Education). 

Dewey,  Melvil.  Library  school  rules:  I.  Card  catalog 
rules;  2.  Accession  book  rules;  3.  Shelf  list  rules.  4th  ed. 
Boston,  Library  Bureau,  1899. 

Dewey,  Melvil.  Simplified  Library  school  rules;  card 
catalog,  accession,  book  numbers,  shelf  list,  capitals,  punc- 
tuation, abbreviations,  library  handwriting.  Boston, 
Library  Bureau,  1898. 

Fumagalli,  Giuseppe.  Cataloghi  di  biblioteche,  e  indice 
bibliographici;  memoria.     Firenze,  G.  C.  Sansoni,  1887. 

Linderfelt,  Klas  August.  Eclectic  card  catalog  rules; 
author  and  title  entries,  based  on  Dziatzko's  "Instruction" 
compared  with  the  rules  of  the  British  Museum,  Cutter, 
Dewey,  Perkins,  and  other  authorities,  with  an  appendix, 
containing  a  list  of  oriental  titles  of  honor  and  occupa- 
tions.    Boston,  C.  A.  Cutter,  1890. 

New  South  Wales.  Public  library,  Sydney.  Guide  to 
the  system  of  cataloguing  of  the  reference  library;  with 
rules  for  cataloguing,  the  Relative  decimal  classification, 
and  headings  used  in  the  subject-index.     By  H.  C.  L.  Ander- 

78 


CATALOGING   METHOD  79 

can  Library  Associations.-  This  code  is  in  the 
main  the  guide  to  practice  of  most  American  libra- 
ries at  the  present  day,  and  is  followed  by  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress  in  its  printed  cards  in  all  save  a 
few  minor  particulars.  As  is  well  known,  it  differs 
from  the  practice  of  the  principal  European  codes 
chiefly  in  its  treatment  of  what  are  known  as 
''corporate  entries,"  i.e.,  the  whole  body  of  publi- 

son.  4th  ed.  March,  1902.  Sydney,  W.  A.  GuUick,  gov- 
ernment printer,  1902. 

Perkins,  Frederic  Beecher.  San  Francisco  cataloguing 
for  public  libraries.  A  manual  based  on  the  system  in  use 
in  the  San  Francisco  free  public  library.  San  Francisco, 
C.  A.  Murdock  &  Co.,  1884. 

Instructionen  fiir  die  alphabetischen  katalog  der  preus- 
zischenbibliotheken.  Zweite  ausg.,  1908.  Berlin,  Behrend 
&  Cie.,  1909. 

Quinn,  John  Henry.  Manual  of  library  cataloguing. 
London,  Library  Supply  Co.,  1899;  rev.  ed.,  1913. 

Spain.  Junta  facultativa  de  archivos,  bibliotecas,  y 
museos.  Instrucciones  para  la  redacci6n  de  los  catdlogos 
en  las  bibliotecas  publicas  del  estado.  Madrid,  Tip.  de  la 
Revista  de  archivos,  bibliotecas  y  museos,  1902. 

Vienna.  K.  K.  Hofbibliothek.  Vorschrift  fur  die  ver- 
fassung  des  alphabetischen  nominal-zettelkatalogs  der 
druckwerke.  Hrsg.  von  der  Direction.  Mit  zwei  beilagen, 
einem  sachregister  und  500  beispielen.  Wien,  Selbstverlag 
der  K.  K.  Hofbibliothek,  1901. 

^  Catalog  rules:  author  and  title  entries.  Compiled  by 
committees  of  the  American  Library  Association  and  the 
(British)  Library  Association.  American  ed.  Boston,  A. 
L.  A.  Publishing  Board,  1908. 


80  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

cations  of  governments,  institutions,  societies,  etc. 
There  are  surprisingly  few  points  of  difference  be- 
tween American  and  British  practice  under  this 
code.  Perhaps  in  time  some  agreement  may  yet 
be  reached  with  Continental  libraries  which  will 
admit  of  freer  interchange  of  catalog  cards  and 
bibliographic  data. 

No  code  can  be  a  complete  guide  to  practice. 
Commentaries  spring  up  almost  immediately  upon 
the  adoption  of  a  set  of  rules.  The  Library  of  Con- 
gress has  issued  (in  card  form)  a  supplemental  set 
of  rules,  giving  its  own  practice  in  matters  not 
covered  in  the  American  Library  Association  code 
or  requiring  additional  directions.  Probably  few 
libraries  will  need  to  follow  all  of  these  supplemental 
rules,  many  of  which  are  rendered  necessary  by  the 
great  number  of  books  in  the  collections  of  the 
Library  of  Congress. 

Guides.  The  Library  Association  code  is  com- 
paratively short  and  simple.  Moreover  it  consists 
at  present  (1914)  of  rules  for  author  entry  only, 
with  but  little  discussion  of  the  principles  laid  down. 
It  is  generally  found  useful,  therefore,  to  supple- 
ment this  code  by  Cutter's  Rules  for  a  Dictionary 
Catalog  (4th  ed.,  Washington,  Govt.  Printing 
Office,  1904).  Many  libraries  which  have  in  the 
past  used  the  Rules  of  the  New  York  State  Library 
School  (Boston,  Library  Bureau,  1899),  will  find 
these  still  of  decided  help,  particularly  in  interpret- 


CATALOGING   METHOD  81 

ing  earlier  practice.  Other  aids  may  be  freely  used, 
provided  that  the  fundamental  distinction  between 
the  earlier  codes  and  modern  practice,  i.e.,  the  use 
of  one  card  for  all  purposes,  is  not  lost  sight  of  .^ 

Decisions.  No  matter  how  carefully  and  loyally 
the  effort  is  made  to  follow  a  set  of  rules,  there  will 
constantly  arise  cases  in  which  the  proper  practice 
is  doubtful  and  requires  study.  Whenever  general 
principles  rather  than  particular  and  isolated  cases 
are  involved,  a  decision  must  be  made  between 
the  various  possible  entries  or  forms  of  entry.  Such 
decisions  may  well  be  rendered  by  the  librarian  in 
counsel  with  not  only  the  chief  cataloger  but  with 
various  other  chiefs  of  departments.  The  cata- 
loger's  work  touches  everyone  in  the  library.  An 
attitude  of  aloofness  toward  it  on  the  part  of  any 
portion  of  the  staff  is  always  unfortunate,  and  may 
be  lamentably  serious.  Decisions  on  particular 
entries  or  minor  points  need  not,  of  course,  be  the 
subject  of  general  discussions.  But  interpretations 
of  the  rules  which  determine  habitual  treatment  of 
debatable  classes  of  entries  must  necessarily  be 
known  to  all  the  staff,  and  the  various  branches  of 
the  service  should  be  heard  on  them. 

Decisions  once  reached  should  be  recorded  and 

*  Brown,  J.  D.  Library  Classification  and  Cataloguing. 
London,  Libraco  Ltd.,  1912. 

Quinn,  T.  H.  Manual  of  library  cataloguing.  London, 
Truslove  and  Hanson,  1913. 


82  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

duplicated.  If  a  board  sits  on  points  of  cataloging 
practice,  as  in  some  large  libraries,  one  of  its  mem- 
bers should  serve  as  secretary  and  keep  a  journal 
of  topics  discussed  and  results  reached.  These 
results — drawn  as  compactly  as  possible — should 
be  communicated  to  every  member  of  the  library 
staff  who  will  use  either  the  catalog  or  any  other 
records  of  the  library.  Only  in  this  manner  can 
uniformity  of  information  or  action  be  secured. 
The  accessions  clerk,  the  binding  clerk,  the  period- 
ical clerk  (in  large  libraries),  will  then  use  the  same 
style  of  entry  as  those  found  in  the  catalog,  to  the 
vast  improvement  of  the  service.^ 

Aside  from  this  record  of  decisions  in  debatable 
cases  there  will  still  be  need  for  record  in  the  official 
catalog  of  the  final  decision  in  every  individual  case. 
A  card  bearing  the  heading  adopted,  the  authori- 
ties consulted,  the  opposing  possibilities,  and  per- 
haps a  very  brief  statement  of  the  reason  for  the 
adoption  of  the  chosen  entry,  and  (most  important 
of  all)  the  date  and  initials  of  the  person  rendering 
the  decision,  should  be  inserted  before  each  head- 
ing which  has  been  questioned. 

*  In  tracing  in  one  library  a  missing  part  of  a  German 
work  appearing  at  irregular  intervals  and  in  varying  edi- 
tions— Iwan  Mueller's  Handbuch,  to  wit,  I  have  found  as 
many  as  five  different  forms  of  entry  for  the  various  parts  in 
different  records.  Naturally  there  was  much  time  wasted 
in  identifying  these  different  entries — and  perhaps  the  miss- 
ing part  had  been  entered  a  sixth  way,  and  was  after  all  in 
the  Library. 


CATALOGING   METHOD  83 

Old  entries  and  new  rules.  In  any  library  which 
antedates  the  formulation  of  the  American  Library 
Association  code  there  may  of  course  be  thousands 
of  entries  made  in  conformity  with  earlier  rules 
which  contravene  the  new  rules.  It  becomes  a 
very  serious  matter  to  bring  the  old  and  the  new 
into  line,  especially  when  printed  cards  are  to  be 
used  for  current  accessions.  In  such  cases  it  is 
frequently  possible  to  buy  printed  cards  (occasion- 
ally with  some  slight  variation  of  imprint)  for  all 
the  older  entries  of  a  given  author,  thus  making 
thorough  work  of  the  revision  at  a  minimum  of 
expense,  and  insuring  reasonable  continuity  for  the 
future.  In  many  cases  this  drastic  and  effective 
method  is  not  feasible.  Then  it  is  always  possible 
to  use  the  printed  card,  cancelling  the  heading,  and 
writing  above  it  that  previously  used  in  the  library. 
There  is  sufficient  space  at  the  top  of  the  cards  to 
permit  this  practice.  In  this  way  very  extensive 
changes  may  be  avoided,  and  later  when  printed 
cards  become  available  for  all  the  old  books  (as 
they  surely  will  from  some  source) ,  the  change  can 
be  made  en  hloc.  Awaiting  that  happy  event,  it 
is  well  to  insert  in  the  file  of  Library  of  Congress 
cards  (or  cut  proof  sheets),  supposing  such  a  file  to 
be  kept  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  cataloging  equip- 
ment, a  dated  note  of  the  decision  just  before  the 
entry  which  it  has  been  decided  not  to  follow.  This 
will  secure  uniformity  of  treatment,  and  further 


84  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

when  a  very  large  number  of  printed  cards  becomes 
available,  the  filers  will  from  time  to  time  report 
that  fact  to  the  head  of  the  cataloging  work,  who 
can  then  take  up  the  question  of  substituting  the 
new  entry  for  the  old  in  systematic  fashion. 

Decisions  on  subject  headings.  While  the  mat- 
ter of  subject  headings  will  be  discussed  in  a  later 
chapter,  it  may  be  well  to  point  out  here  the  need 
for  an  official  list  in  the  catalog  room  of  all  subject 
headings  adopted,  containing,  of  course,  full  refer- 
ences from  the  various  forms  proposed  but  not 
chosen.  When  libraries  are  small,  the  need  for 
such  a  list  is  not  felt,  and  it  is  too  frequently 
ignored.  The  more  specific  the  purpose  of  the 
library,  the  more  its  list  of  subject  headings  will 
vary  from  those  ordinarily  employed  in  libraries, 
and  the  greater  the  need  for  proper  record.  But  it 
is  exactly  in  such  specializing  libraries  that  pre- 
cautions of  this  nature  are  generally  not  taken  until 
confusion  and  laxness  have  driven  home  the  neces- 
sity for  system.  The  library  of  a  laboratory  or  of 
a  professional  institution  can  not,  of  course,  be 
content  with  any  such  list  of  subject  headings  as 
the  American  Library  Association  List,  though  it 
may  well  follow  this  list  or  the  Library  of  Congress 
List  for  its  general  headings.  But  if  no  official  list 
is  kept,  continuity  of  treatment  becomes  a  matter 
of  mood  and  memory,  and  a  change  of  catalogers 
brings  disaster.     The  simple  device  of  a  card  list  of 


CATALOGING   METHOD  85 

all  subject  entries  prevents  most  difficulties  from 
arising,  and  helps  greatly  to  resolve  such  as  must  be 
met.  Here  also  each  card  should  bear  date  and 
initials,  and  on  the  back  should  be  recorded  any 
references  to  it  inserted  elsewhere  in  the  list.  If 
the  subject  is  an  unusual  or  peculiar  one,  a  brief 
note  of  the  book  or  books  for  which  it  was  used  is 
not  difficult  to  add  at  the  time  of  its  adoption,  and 
aids  greatly  in  subsequent  interpretation  of  the 
entry.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that  lists  of  this 
sort  suffer  from  too  laconic  entries  rather  than  from 
an  excess  of  information.  Definition  of  the  mean- 
ing and  scope  of  the  subject  heading  should  be  re- 
corded in  all  cases  in  which  any  doubt  can  arise. 

One  whole  class  of  entries  can  be  eliminated  from 
such  a  list  of  subjects  by  adopting  the  rule  that  the 
form  of  subject  entry  for  a  person  shall  invariably 
be  the  same  as  the  author  entry  for  that  person. 
Thus  the  rules  for  authors  govern  all  biographical 
and  other  individual  subject  headings.  The  use 
of  a  scheme  of  subheads  for  subject  entries  for  indi- 
viduals identical  (or  nearly  so)  with  the  correspond- 
ing subheads  of  the  classification  will  avoid  the 
necessity  for  further  record  in  the  subject  list. 
Thus  the  subject  list  will  contain  few  names  of 
persons,  though  the  subject  catalog  may  contain 
thousands. 

Libraries  with  catalogs  begun  years  since  and 
which  have  never  recorded  a  list  of  their  subject 


86  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

entries  in  their  catalog  rooms  will  find  the  labor  of 
drawing  off  onto  cards  such  a  list  amply  repaid. 
Discrepancies  and  errors  never  suspected  will 
speedily  be  brought  to  light  to  the  great  benefit  of 
the  catalog.  Moreover  the  saving  of  time  thereby 
effected  in  the  cataloging  of  new  accessions  is  much 
greater  than  would  at  first  be  supposed.  With  such 
a  list  at  hand  there  is  no  need  to  search  through  the 
catalog  for  various  possible  subject  entries.  The 
time  thus  saved  is  perhaps  even  greater  than  in  the 
case  of  the  "official"  author  catalog, — and  the  value 
of  that  tool  is  well  known.  The  gain  to  readers 
through  uniformity  in  the  treatment  of  subjects 
is  so  great  that  any  device  which  assists  in  securing 
uniformity  is  rendered  worth  while,  unless  it  be 
too  clumsy  or  too  expensive  to  operate. 

Unit  card.  It  is  inevitable  that  the  use  of  several*- 
copies  of  one  printed  card  should  strengthen  the 
practically  identical  method  of  duplicating  a  single 
card  for  books  for  which  a  printed  card  can  not  be 
secured,  that  is,  the  adoption  of  what  has  been 
termed  the  "unit  card "  system  for  all  books.  Other 
advantages  than  those  of  routine  are  found  in  this 
practice,  the  chief  of  which  is  perhaps  the  saving 
thus  effected  in  the  time  of  the  more  highly  paid 
assistants,  who  write  but  the  first  card,  indicating 
all  added  entries,  etc.  This  card  is  then  copied 
and  the  various  added  entries  made  by  the  copyist 
on  the  cards  requiring  them.     The  fact  that  the 


CATALOGING   METHOD  87 

reader  using  the  catalog  thus  has  the  same  informa- 
tion before  him  whichever  form  of  entry  he  consults 
is  also  a  decided  gain.  The  unit  card  duplicated 
in  accordance  with  need  is  therefore  the  basic 
principle  of  modern  library  practice. 

ROUTINE 

Having  decided  on  a  code  of  rules,  the  number 
and  kind  of  catalogs  to  be  maintained,  the  use  of 
printed  cards  where  possible,  and  the  principle  of 
one  card  duplicated  for  various  purposes,  the  rou- 
tine of  cataloging  practice  next  comes  up  for  study. 
This  routine  must  vary  with  each  institution  and 
each  group  of  individuals.  But  whether  the  library 
be  large  or  small,  whether  its  catalogers  are  special- 
ists or  not,  there  remain  certain  main  processes 
which  will  have  to  be  performed  and  certain  points 
which  will  require  decision.  These  are  taken  up 
in  the  order  in  which  they  are  customarily  per- 
formed. 

Assignment  of  work.^  Too  frequently  the  person 
in  charge  of  cataloging  work — whether  he  be  the 
librarian  in  a  small  library,  or  the  head  cataloger 
in  a  large  one — forgets  that  there  is  great  need  for 
discretion  in  planning  the  work.  Too  often  it  hap- 
pens that  new  books  are  handled  in  steady  sequence, 
without  discrimination  either  as  to  their  relative 

''Cf.p.52. 


88  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

importance  and  the  character  of  the  work  involved 
in  cataloging  them,  or  the  differing  abilities  of  the 
cataloging  force.  In  directing  a  group  of  cata- 
logers  the  total  output  and  the  efficiency  of  the 
staff  can  be  greatly  multiplied  by  continual  and 
careful  study  of  the  work  as  it  presents  itself  day 
by  day.  Too  many  problems  requiring  vexatious 
study  and  investigation  should  not  go  to  the  sort 
of  cataloger  who  does  routine  clerical  work  by  the 
hour  without  fatigue — nor  should  too  heavy  doses 
of  simple  cataloging  be  continued  when  it  is  evident 
that  the  recipient  is  "going  stale."  Of  course 
certain  catagories  will  present  themselves :  Russian 
books  must  be  done  by  the  one  who  knows  Russian, 
for  example.  The  head  cataloger  who  will  take 
pains  to  find  out  what  each  of  his  people  can  do  best, 
what  each  likes  to  do  most,  and  what  each  does 
poorly,  will  be  able  to  assign  tasks  so  deftly  that 
the  force  will  work  rapidly  and  harmoniously,  will 
develope  an  esprit-de-corps,  and  will  handle  an 
astonishing  number  of  books.  He  will,  of  course, 
encourage  specialization,  but  will  not  suffer  the 
specialist  to  neglect  his  general  knowledge  of  cata- 
loging and  of  the  library  in  which  he  is  working. 

Main  entry.  In  some  libraries  entry  is  de- 
termined as  a  matter  of  routine  by  each  cataloger 
for  the  book  he  has  in  hand.  In  others  entry  is 
determined  first,  generally  by  a  cataloger  of  higher 
rank  or  greater  experience,  and  the  description  of 


CATALOGING   METHOD  89 

the  book  prepared  by  another  from  the  marked 
titlepage.  There  are  advantages  in  either  method. 
Supposing  a  file  of  Library  of  Congress  printed 
cards  (or  cut  proofsheets)  to  be  kept  in  the  library, 
there  is  a  decided  gain  in  having  one  person  of  ex- 
perience search  for  entry  and  for  printed  cards  as 
well,  thus  making  one  process  with  two  ends  in 
view.  Whether  an  entry  is  found  in  the  Library 
of  Congress  file  or  not,  search  should  again  be  made 
in  the  library's  official  catalog  for  the  form  of  entry 
previously  adopted  in  the  library.  If  this  is  found 
to  differ  from  the  Library  of  Congress  form  (and 
if  the  difference  is  not  one  of  rule,  and  therefore 
well  recognized  by  all  the  force)  the  discrepancy 
should  be  reported  to  the  chief  cataloger  and  a  de- 
cision reached  as  to  which  form  to  follow.  This 
decision  may  well  be  a  matter  of  conference  with 
the  librarian  if  there  are  numerous  entries,  for  there 
will  be  a  certain  amount  of  expense  involved  in 
extensive  changes,  to  say  nothing  of  inconvenience. 
The  proper  form  of  entry,  it  may  be  remarked,  is 
very  easily  found  for  at  least  three  quarters  of  the 
books  cataloged. 

If  no  entry  is  found  in  the  Library  of  Congress 
file  or  in  the  the  official  catalog,  it  is  questionable 
whether  the  person  making  the  search  should  go 
further.  Unless  the  entry  is  obviously  a  matter 
which  will  prove  very  puzzling,  the  book  had  better 
be  forwarded  at  once  to  its  cataloger.     Serious 


90  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

problems  should  be  kept  for  consultation  with  the 
chief  of  the  cataloging  work.^ 

Title.  The  present  American  Library  Associa- 
tion rule  is  to  transcribe  the  whole  title,  neither 
altering  or  abridging  it  in  any  way.  In  perhaps 
ninety  per  cent  of  modern  books  this  rule  is  per- 
fectly sensible  and  praiseworthy.  There  is  no 
chance  for  error  in  thus  copying  the  titlepage,  and 
questions  as  to  editions,  etc.,  can  hardly  arise,  if 
this  is  done.  But  in  the  case  of  a  few  modern  books 
and  in  most  books  prior  to  the  nineteenth  century 
the  slavish  following  of  this  rule  works  confusion 
and  trouble.  It  is  frequently  necessary  to  carry 
the  title  (even  on  th^  printed  cards)  over  to  a  second 
card,  and  occasionally  even  to  a  third  and  fourth 
card.  Generally  the  smaller  and  less  important 
the  book,  the  longer  the  title.  The  rule  is  absurd 
when  it  gives  us  two  or  more  cards  where  one  would 
be  enough  for  every  practical  purpose.  There 
should  be  some  latitude  allowed  catalogers  in  this 
matter,  and  heads  of  libraries  will  do  well  to  insist 
that  the  rule  be  not  followed  in  its  letter. 

8  No  attempt  is  made  in  this  work  to  discuss  the  theory 
of  entry,  nor  to  offer  suggestions  on  disputed  points.  The 
various  codes  previously  cited  and  the  works  on  cataloging 
mentioned  in  the  footnotes,  will  prove  ample  for  those  who 
desire  to  compare  authorities  or  to  investigate  problems. 
Here  we  are  concerned  solely  with  the  practice  of  catalog- 
ing, taking  up  matters  which  have  to  be  decided  and  carried 
out  in  the  course  of  each  day's  work. 


CATALOGING   METHOD  91 

It  is  ordinarily  better  to  begin  even  an  abridged 
title  with  the  first  words  on  the  page,  and  let  the 
eliminations  come  in  the  latter  part.  Of  course 
this  is  not  always  possible,  particularly  in  catalog- 
ing German  programmen  and  the  like,  in  which 
the  vital  portion  of  the  title  is  frequently  given  in 
small  type  at  the  bottom  of  the  page — perhaps  even 
on  the  back  of  the  titlepage,  preceded  by  Inest  or 
Insunt.  In  such  cases  the  lengthy  and  formal  head- 
ing subsides  on  the  catalog  card  into  a  very  much 
abbreviated  note. 

Author 's  name  in  title.  Following  out  the  theory 
that  the  title  is  to  be  an  accurate  and  complete  tran- 
script of  the  titlepage,  the  American  Library  Associ- 
ation Rules  command  that  the  author's  name  shall 
be  given  just  as  it  appears  on  the  titlepage,  gen- 
erally as  a  part  of  a  sentence,  as,  "Library  classi- 
fication and  cataloging,  by  James  Duff  Brown, "  or; 
"The  subject-catalogs  of  the  Library  of  Congress 
■By  J.  C.  M.  Hanson,"  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  author's  name  has  already  appeared  in  the 
heading.  This  practice  has  a  certain  value,  par- 
ticularly in  the  numerous  cases  in  which  the  author 's 
name  as  given  on  the  titlepage  is  different  from  the 
heading  adopted  as  the  main  entry.  Any  doubt  as 
to  what  was  the  form  actually  used  on  the  titlepage 
disappears  when  this  rule  is  followed.  In  probably 
ninety  out  of  a  hundred  of  the  books  cataloged  the 
rule  involves  unnecessary  labor  and  repetition  of 


92  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

that  labor  in  duplicating  cards  by  hand.  Conse- 
quently it  seems  a  wholly  unnecessary  practice  to 
adopt  in  the  case  of  cards  made  in  the  library. 
Small  and  moderately  large  libraries  will  do  well  to 
observe  the  rule  in  every  case  in  which  the  heading 
used  differs  from  the  name  given  on  the  titlepage. 
In  all  other  cases  the  phrase  containing  the  author's 
name  may  safely  be  omitted. 

Edition.  The  modern  practice  is  to  treat  the 
note  of  the  edition  as  a  part  of  the  title,  and  to  insert 
it  before  the  imprint  without  regard  to  its  actual 
place  on  the  titlepage.  If  ascertained  elsewhere, 
the  facts  are  given  in  square  brackets.  Even  small 
libraries  can  not  safely  omit  the  statement  of  the 
edition,  however  simple  their  catalogs. 

Exactly  what  constitutes  an  "edition"  is  not 
easy  to  say.  It  is  not  well  to  go  behind  the  face 
of  the  titlepage  in  this  matter.  A  note  is  the  proper 
place  for  any  comment  on  the  claim  in  the  title. 
Doubt  arises  chiefly  in  the  case  of  first  editions  and 
"issues, "  and  is  generally  a  matter  of  bibliographic 
minutiae  rather  than  of  essential  differences  in 
the  text  of  the  work. 

Imprint.  Place,  publisher,  and  date  constitute 
the  imprint  as  ordinarily  defined  in  cataloging  prac- 
tice. No  one  of  these  items  can  be  omitted  with 
safety  on  any  card.  The  record  of  them  does  far 
more  than  differentiate  between  editions  of  a  bo3k. 
In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  when  a  book  other  than 


CATALOGING   METHOD  93 

fiction  is  looked  up  in  a  card  catalog,  the  place  and 
date  determine  the  reader's  selection  of  a  book  by 
an  author  previously  unknown  to  him.  In  about 
the  same  per  cent  of  cases  the  publisher's  general 
reputation  influences  the  reader's  choice.  Of 
course  it  makes  little  difference  to  the  average 
reader  whether  an  edition  of,  for  instance,  The 
Pilgrim's  Progress  was  published  in  London,  or 
Dublin,  or  New  York  by  any  one  of  a  score  of  firms. 
But  even  in  such  a  case  the  man  with  a  little  knowl- 
edge of  books  will  ask  for  an  edition  by  a  certain 
firm  because  he  knows  the  style  of  book,  of  type, 
etc.,  commonly  used  by  that  firm  at  a  given  time. 
He  will  prefer  to  read  an  edition  printed  by  Ticknor 
and  Fields  to  one  issued,  let  us  say,  by  the  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society. 

But  much  more  important  is  the  significance  of 
the  date  and  place  of  publication  as  indicating  the 
probable  character  of  the  book,  the  state  of  knowl- 
edge at  the  time  of  publication.  On  the  referen- 
dum, for  example,  a  book  printed  in  the  seventies 
would  be  of  little  use  to  a  student  of  present  Ameri- 
can tendencies.  These  things  are  the  veriest  com- 
monplace of  scholarly  investigation,  but  unfortu- 
nately in  their  zeal  to  save  time  and  money,  too 
many  librarians  have  allowed  themselves  to  take 
the  point  of  view  of  the  persistent  reader  of  fiction 
in  the  manufacture  of  their  catalog  cards.  To  the 
devourer    of    novels    in    the    average    circulating 


94  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

library,  place,  publisher,  and  date  are  alike  mean- 
ingless and  unnoticed.  But  not  so  to  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

Collation.  The  extent  to  which  collation  shall 
be  given  must  be  determined  by  each  library  for 
itself.  On  the  Library  of  Congress  printed  cards 
will  be  found  a  fairly  full  collation,  including  such 
items  as  preliminary  leaves,  illustrations,  tables, 
diagrams,  maps,  plans,  facsimilies,  plates,  series- 
notes,  etc,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  information  of 
the  number  of  pages  (or  volumes)  and  the  height 
of  the  book.  Now  this  information  is  sometimes 
very  valuable,  and  is  never  obtrusive,  being  in 
smaller  type  and  on  a  separate  line  from  the  title 
and  imprint.  But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  it 
is  wise  for  every  library  to  attempt  the  same  full- 
ness in  the  case  of  every  card  it  makes  for  itself. 
There  is  no  question  that  even  small  libraries  will 
need  to  give  the  number  of  volumes  or  pages,  the 
height  (or  size)  of  the  book,  and  on  occasion  the 
series  note.  Maps  and  illustrations  may  well  be 
noted,  as  the  fact  that  one  book  has  them  and 
another  on  the  same  topic  does  not  will  frequently 
influence  the  reader's  choice.  But  that  all  geome- 
tries, for  example,  should  have  the  fact  that  they 
contain  diagrams  specified  on  the  card  remains  to 
be  proven.  It  would  seem  sensible  in  the  case  of 
most  libraries  to  note  in  the  collation  only  such 
items  as  are  likely  to  be  of  service  in  selecting  or 


CATALOGING   METHOD  95 

identifying  the  book.  Very  large  libraries  will 
doubtless  desire  full  collation.  And  in  small  or 
specialized  libraries  books  of  peculiar  rarity  or 
interest  may  be  treated  with  especial  fullness. 
The  main  thing  is  to  have  a  definite  rule  as  regards 
the  collation  of  the  average  book — not  to  leave  the 
matter  to  the  whim  of  the  cataloger  or  to  chance. 

Notes.  The  chief  difficulty  in  the  matter  of 
notes  in  the  case  of  typewritten  or  handwritten 
cards  is  that,  being  of  the  same  size  of  type  or  letter 
as  the  title,  they  occupy  an  inordinate  amount  of 
room,  are  not  easily  distinguished  from  the  title 
and  consequently  lead  the  inexpert  users  of  the 
catalog  into  some  confusion.  The  use  of  type  of  a 
smaller  size  enables  the  note  to  drop  into  its  proper 
position  as  a  note  on  the  printed  card.  The  average 
library,  then,  in  its  own  unprinted  catalog  cards 
will  probably  be  chary  of  notes  for  the  average 
book.  But  precisely  because  they  are  not  needed 
for  the  ordinary,  straight-forward  work  produced 
by  one  person,  on  a  definite  topic,  and  published 
at  a  given  time  and  place  by  an  established  com- 
mercial publisher,  they  are  needed  in  the  case  of 
the  vast  number  of  brochures  and  volumes  brought 
out  by  various  individuals  or  organizations  in 
cooperation,  and  printed  by  some  society,  govern- 
ment, magazine,  or  institution.  We  live  in  an  age 
of  journalism  and  of  society  publications.  For 
such  the  descriptive  note  is  the  reader's  salvation. 


96  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

Notes  should  be  notes,  not  explanations  or  trea- 
tises. Conciseness  and  brevity  must  be  insisted 
on.  Particular  care  is  needed  not  to  omit  informa- 
tion which  will  enable  a  second  copy  existing  in 
some  series,  or  set,  to  be  located  rapidly.  The 
caution  that  the  note  should  be  distinguished  from 
the  customary  bibliographic  description  of  the 
book  by  both  dropping  a  line  on  the  card,  and  mak- 
ing it  a  new  paragraph  is  perhaps  not  superfluous. 

The  preceding  paragraphs  refer  of  course  to  notes 
of  a  strictly  bibliographic  character,  telling  how 
and  in  what  form  the  book  described  was  published, 
whether  it  is  an  original  or  a  later  issue,  etc.  Other 
kinds  of  notes  are  also  in  vogue  among  catalogers. 
Among  them  are  the  '^ contents"  note,  and  an 
"evaluation"  of  the  book  itself,  as  distinguished 
from  the  form  of  its  publication. 

Contents.  The  practice  of  giving  the  contents 
in  a  note  in  the  case  of  books  either  of  composite 
authorship  or  on  a  variety  of  topics  (as  a  book  of 
essays  or  a  collection  of  short  stories)  is  growing 
steadily  in  favor.  Contents  are  also  frequently 
listed  when  the  title  of  the  book  is  misleading  or 
inaccurate,  or  does  not  indicate  definitely  the  scope 
of  the  work.  Occasionally  the  full  contents  are  not 
given,  but  only  the  headings  of  parts  or  volumes. 
These  indications  of  the  scope  of  a  book  are  always 
welcome  to  students,  and  serve  a  most  useful  pur- 
pose. They  save  a  great  amount  of  time  and  no 
little  vexation. 


CATALOGING   METHOD  97 

The  question  of  giving  the  contents  on  catalog 
cards  made  in  the  library  should  usually  be  decided 
by  the  head  cataloger  in  accordance  with  a  policy 
adopted  by  the  library.  When  the  entry  is  de- 
termined it  is  frequently  possible  to  suggest — or 
direct — that  a  contents  note  be  made.  Even  small 
libraries  will  find  that  such  notes  repay  the  time 
spent  on  them,  supposing  always  that  the  decision 
that  a  note  is  required  be  made  with  discrimination. 
The  rule  should  be  to  give  contents  only  when  such 
a  note  will  aid  in  interpreting  a  title  which  lacks 
definiteness.  In  other  cases  even  large  libraries 
will  omit  it  because  it  is  not  needed.  Contents 
notes  are  generally  sufficient  to  indicate  the  scope 
of  a  book — if  not,  a  further  note  may  be  desirable. 

Evaluation.''  How  far  a  library  should  go  in  giv- 
ing an  appraisal  of  the  value  or  character  of  its 
books  is  a  debated  question.  No  one  will  dispute 
the  worth  of  critical  lists  of  books  prepared  by  com- 
petent authorities  for  particular  classes  of  readers. 
But  to  undertake  to  give  even  a  slight  critical  note 
for  every  book  added  to  the  library  involves  so 
much  work  in  the  creation  of  a  product  of  doubtful, 

^  Cf.  Savage,  E.  A.  Manual  of  descriptive  annotation 
for  library  catalogues.    London,  Library  Supply  Co.,  1906. 

For  the  literature  on  this  topic  down  to  1909  cf .  Cannons, 
Bibliography  of  Library  Economy,  p.  357-358. 

Cf .  also  lies,  George.  A  bureau  of  review.  An  address 
to  the  New  York  State  Library  School,  Albany,  April  18, 
1913. 


98  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

or  at  least  ephemeral,  value  that  many,  if  not  most, 
librarians  shrink  from  adopting  the  plan.  Libra- 
ries are  of  such  diverse  sorts,  and  have  such  widely 
differing  constituencies  that  no  writer  can  attempt 
to  lay  down  a  rule  in  this  matter.  The  need  of  the 
reader  is,  however,  the  sole  guiding  principle  in 
this,  as  in  other  problems.  Where  the  readers  are 
all  specialists,  as  in  a  seminar  library  or  that  of  a 
great  manufacturing  establishment,  there  is  no 
need  for  the  ordinary  note,  but  on  the  contrary  a 
pointed  and  brief  estimate  of  the  worth  of  the  book 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  workers  in  that  par- 
ticular field  may  prove  a  most  valuable  addition 
to  the  catalog,  increasing  greatly  its  usefulness  as 
a  tool  of  research.  Where  the  readers  are  mostly 
inexpert,  the  need  for  description  and  appraisal  is 
perhaps  more  keenly  felt,  but  is  vastly  more  diffi- 
cult to  give.  The  plight  of  the  untrained  man  or 
woman  standing  before  a  huge  card  catalog  is  truly 
a  challenge  to  the  inventiveness  of  the  makers  of 
that  instrument.  To  leave  these  readers  wholly 
without  guidance  seems  in  the  light  of  modern 
library  aims  both  improvident  and  unfair.  And 
yet  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  average  library, 
hard  pressed  for  funds,  and  conscious  of  its  own 
inadequacy  in  many  directions,  are  so  apparent 
that  few  librarians  have  felt  justified  in  adopting 
the  principle  of  evaluation  for  all  books. 

After  all,  the  problem  is  one  of  arrangement  and 


CATALOGING   METHOD  99 

style  of  catalog,  as  well  as  of  descriptive  or  critical 
notes.  If  notes  are  to  be  of  any  value,  they  must 
be  found  quickly  and  seen  easily.  The  catalog 
in  book  form  or  the  bulletin,  or  else  the  special  list, 
affords  opportunity  for  descriptive  or  critical  anno- 
tation which  the  ordinary  catalog  of  typewritten 
or  manuscript  cards  does  not  and  can  not  furnish. 
If  the  library  goes  in  for  evaluation,  it  will  almost 
be  forced  to  abandon  the  alphabetical  arrangement 
under  subjects.  If  it  presumes  to  say  that  a  certain 
book  is  by  far  the  best  one  ever  written  on  a  topic, 
it  is  of  course  wholly  foolish  to  leave  that  fact  to 
be  discovered  in  the  proper  alphabetical  place  in 
which  its  author  falls.  Logic  would  seem  to  require 
an  arrangement  of  a  different  sort. 

When  it  is  desired  to  give  notes  on  cards,  it  will 
probably  be  best  to  confine  them  to  such  points  as 
the  author's  qualifications,  his  attitude  "pro"  or 
"con"  on  a  debated  topic,  the  scope  of  the  treat- 
ment, and  perhaps  some  indication  of  the  manner 
of  handling  his  theme.  These  can  usually  be  given 
succinctly,  frequently  in  a  single  phrase  or  word. 
It  is  highly  desirable  that  all  the  information  be 
on  one  card.  Lengthy  notes  are  a  source  of  con- 
fusion. 

Series  cards.  This  is  a  day  of  publishers'  series 
and  sets.  Moreover,  books  that  of  themselves 
would  never  find  a  publisher  are  brought  out  by 
various  forms  of  cooperation.     Institutions  of  all 


100  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

sorts,  and  innumerable  societies  issue  series  of 
monographs.  Frequently  the  name  of  the  col- 
lected group  is  better  known  than  that  of  any  of  its 
members.  Still  more  frequently  books  are  cited 
by  the  number  (or  year),  in  the  collected  title,  or 
even  by  some  such  loose  description  as  ''Renan's 
Hibbert  Lectures."  All  too  seldom  are  these 
series  numbered  consecutively  and  normally. 
Usually  there  are  additional  volumes,  interpola- 
tions, sub-series,  omissions,  and  other  interruptions 
to  the  smooth  current  of  volumes  flowing  from  the 
press.  Hence  vexation  and  loss  of  time.  Series 
cards  should  therefore  be  made  for  every  sort  of 
series,  and  preferably  a  separate  card  should  be 
written  for  each  monograph,  rather  than  a  number 
of  entries  on  a  single  card.  This  enables  one  to 
interpolate  printed  cards  very  freely  (with  the 
series  entry  written  on  top) ,  and  also  to  fill  in  gaps 
in  the  series  cards  as  the  missing  volumes  are  pro- 
cured. Of  course  a  note  must  be  made  on  the  back 
of  the  main  entry  card  in  the  official  catalog  indi- 
cating that  a  series  entry  is  made.  (When  the 
series  is  the  main  entry,  note  must  be  made  of  ana- 
lytical cards  for  monographs.)  This  work  is  always 
vexatious  and  dijfficult  to  keep  absolutely  up  to  date, 
but  it  pays  as  few  departments  of  cataloging  pay. 
The  comfort  of  full  series  cards  can  only  be  felt  by 
reference  librarians  who  have  worked  without 
them. 


CATALOGING   METHOD  101 

Analyticals.  The  analysis  of  books  of  composite 
authorship  or  treating  of  a  variety  of  topics  is  a 
problem  demanding  the  continual  exercise  of  dis- 
cretion. Whether  to  make  "analyticals"  or  to  let 
the  main  entry  stand  for  the  work  without  further 
note  must  be  determined  by  each  librarian  with  the 
needs  of  his  own  constituency  in  view.  A  special 
library  may  need  to  make  analytical  entries  that 
amount  to  indexing  the  chapters  of  a  book.  A 
public  library  may  be  obliged  to  let  a  single  entry 
suffice  for  even  a  publisher's  series.  In  general  the 
opinion  of  reference  librarians  is  for  as  many  analyt- 
icals as  can  be  manufactured  considering  the  whole 
burden  of  cataloging  work.  It  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  analysis  of  composite  works  and 
series  is  very  likely  to  be  the  subject  of  cooperative 
effort  in  the  future,  and  librarians  may  well  hesitate 
to  enter  on  formidable  tasks  of  the  sort  when  in  a 
few  years,  or  even  months,  printed  cards  may  be 
bought  at  a  cheap  price.  For  instance  what  library 
would  lightly  undertake  to  make  cards  for  every 
title  in  the  great  set  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers 
published  by  Migne,  the  Patrohgiae  cursus  com- 
pletus,  without  counting  the  cost  very  carefully, 
remembering  that  every  item  is  entered  in  the  cata- 
logs of  the  Peabody  Institute  and  of  the  British 
Museum?  A  further  cause  for  hesitation  is  the 
fact  that  each  analytical  requires  subject  cards, 
and  frequently  other  added  entries  as  well. 


102  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

Opposed  to  this  cautious  view  is  the  crying  need 
for  the  identification  of  every  work  of  a  given  author 
or  on  a  given  topic.  It  is  of  decided  value  to  know 
that  the  library  has  the  collections  of  some  society, 
the  memoirs  of  some  academy,  the  lectures  on  some 
foundation.  But  for  once  that  such  a  book  as 
Hatch's  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  upon 
the  Christian  Church  is  cited  as  the  Hibbert  Lec- 
tures for  1888,  or  Max  West's  Inheritance  Tax  as 
volume  4,  part  2  of  the  Columbia  University  Studies 
in  history,  economics  and  public  law,  they  are  re- 
ferred to  ten  times  by  their  authors'  names  or  their 
titles  as  monographs.  But  not  monographs  in 
series  alone  demand  analyticals;  commemorative 
volumes,  festschriften  and  various  other  composite 
books  appear  in  ever  increasing  numbers,  and  re- 
quire analysis,  if  their  contents  are  to  be  of  any 
value.  And  despite  the  multiplication  of  profes- 
sional bibliographies  and  indexes,  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  the  modern  library  can  afford  to  ignore 
in  its  public  catalog  the  articles  in  the  more  im- 
portant periodicals.  The  temptation  to  make 
analytical  entries  is  therefore  very  strong. 

When  a  decision  has  been  made  to  enter  on  the 
analysis  of  a  series  or  even  a  single  work,  if  ten  or 
more  cards  in  all  are  to  be  needed,  and  if  the  library 
owns  a  small  job  printing  press  (or  flexotype),  it  is 
a  very  economical  method  to  print  the  title  of  the 
book  or  series  on  blank  cards,  allowing  sufficient 


CATALOGING   METHOD  103 

space  for  the  entry  and  individual  title  above  the 
printed  lines.  The  call  number  can  usually  also 
be  printed,  and  occasionally  the  place  and  date, 
leaving  only  a  small  amount  to  be  j&lled  in  by  hand 
for  each  varying  title. 

Added  entries.  All  cards  made  for  a  book  in 
addition  to  the  main  entry  card  are  technically 
termed  "added  entries,"  or  additional  entries. 
These  are  ordinarily  cards  indicating  the  subject 
or  title  of  a  book,  or  cards  giving  additional  informa- 
tion as  to  the  persons  concerned  in  its  production, 
such  as  translators,  joint-authors,  editors,  etc. 
Subject  entry  is  treated  in  the  following  chapter. 
It  is  necessary  to  adopt  a  definite  policy  as  to  added 
entries,  to  determine  how  freely  they  shall  be  made, 
and  what  form  the  cards  for  them  shall  take.  In 
using  printed  cards,  added  entries  are  written  above 
the  main  heading,  usually  indenting  one  space.  If 
the  "unit"  card  system  is  followed,  the  same  prac- 
tice will  be  pursued  for  cards  written  in  the  library. 
It  is  well  to  make  added  entries  freely,  particularly 
for  titles,  editors  and  translators.  Added  entry 
cards  should  in  every  case  bear  the  call  number  of 
the  book,  and  should  be  recorded  on  the  main  entry 
card.  Some  libraries  restrict  added  entries  on  the 
ground  that  they  require  extra  labor,  but  they  are 
of  so  much  value  in  the  practical  use  of  the  catalog 
that  the  work  is  well  spent. 

Title  cards.     An  entry  should  be  made  for  every 


104  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

distinctive  or  significant  title,  including  the  titles 
of  all  novels,  books  of  essays,  and  separately  pub- 
lished poems.  Titles  beginning  with  such  words  as 
"On, "  "Report, "  "History, "  "Account, "  "Narra- 
tive,"  and  the  like  will  not  ordinarily  require  a 
title  entry.  But  the  very  general  habit  on  the  part 
of  readers  of  recalling  titles  rather  than  authors 
makes  the  free  use  of  title  entries  highly  advisable. 
In  the  case  of  the  unit  card,  the  method  is  clear  and 
simple,  as  with  the  printed  card.  Some  libraries 
will  prefer  still  to  follow  the  old  custom  of  making 
merely  a  title  reference  card  in  the  interest  of  sup- 
posed economy.  This  practice  is  not  a  bad  one 
in  small  libraries,  if  only  the  call  number  is  given. 
In  general  it  is  bad  policy  to  send  a  reader  from  one 
card  to  another  to  get  information,  particularly  the 
call  number  of  the  book.  Only  general  reference 
cards  which  naturally  apply  to  all  the  works  by 
one  author  or  on  a  given  topic  may  with  safety  omit 
the  call  number,  and  even  these  may  give  it  in  many 
cases,  as  when  the  author  has  a  definite  place  in 
the  classification  of  literature. 

Reference  cards.  Cards  for  variant  forms  of 
name  should  be  freely  made,  and  recorded  in 
the  official  catalog  on  the  card  noting  the  final 
decision,  with  the  authorities  followed,  date,  etc. 
Corresponding  to  these  are  the  "See"  and  "See 
also"  references  in  the  subject  cards.  As  refer- 
ence cards  need  be  made  but  once,  pains  should 


CATALOGING   METHOD  105 

be  taken  to  see  that  they  are  made  at  the  time  a 
decision  on  a  debatable  entry  is  reached.  If  this 
is  always  done,  no  reference  cards  need  ordinarily 
be  written  whenever  an  entry  is  found  in  the  official 
catalog.  The  fact  that  the  various  forms  are  noted 
and  checked  on  the  decision  card  is  of  itself  suffi- 
cient, unless  some  new  and  unrecorded  form  occurs 
on  the  title  page  of  the  book  to  be  cataloged. 

COPYING 

The  chief  cost,  all  things  considered,  in  copying 
is  the  necessary  revision  of  the  work.  The  eye  and 
hand  fatigue  which  copying  involves,  and  the  time 
and  strength  needed  for  its  accurate  revision  point 
to  some  mechanical  means  of  copying  the  "unit" 
card  made  by  the  cataloger  as  a  practical  necessity. 
This  has  been  sought  in  various  mechanical  devices. 

Hectograph ,  etc .  The  ' '  hectograph , "  "  shapiro  • 
graph,"  ''copygraph,"  and  various  other  processes 
depending  on  the  use  of  an  aniline  dye  ink  and  a, 
gelatine  or  putty  pad  are  the  chief  of  these.  The 
results  obtained  are  surprisingly  good,  although  the 
ink  will  surely  fade  in  time,  and  that  more  quickly 
than  the  ink  in  a  thoroughly  good  typewriter  record 
ribbon.  But  as  catalog  cards  in  trays  are  but  little 
exposed  to  sunlight,  the  fading  is  not  rapid,  and 
the  cards  in  any  public  catalog  will  probably  need 
to  be  replaced  because  they  are  soiled  long  before 
the  ink  has  faded.     That  replacement  can  probably 


106  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

be  done  with  printed  cards  when  the  time  comes  to 
do  it.  One  serious  difficulty  in  the  use  of  this  means 
of  duplication  by  facsimile  is  the  necessity  for  an 
initial  card  free  from  corrections  and  entirely  clear 
and  legible.  The  original  of  the  hectograph  dupli- 
cation must  of  course  be  made  slowly  and  very 
carefully,  and  must  be  revised  before  the  copies  are 
taken. 

Flexotype,  etc.  Certain  processes  involving  the 
use  of  movable  types  and  quick  printing  have 
proven  very  successful  on  a  small  scale.*  There  is 
a  decided  advantage  in  that  one  proofreading  serves 
for  all  the  copies  to  be  made.  It  is  even  possible 
for  a  bright  boy  who  has  received  a  little  instruction 
to  make  the  cards  from  the  titlepage  previously 
marked  by  the  cataloger,  thus  saving  a  great  deal 
of  labor.  The  result  is  a  card  resembling  a  type- 
written one,  but  clearer  in  outline,  and  very  cheaply 
made.  Five,  ten,  or  more  copies  can  be  made  with 
great  rapidity  after  the  first  revision,  and  no  further 
revision  is  needed,  except  for  added  entries,  etc.,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  printed  cards.  The  machines  are 
somewhat  expensive,  but  should  be  very  profitable 
in  libraries  where  much  cheap  work  must  be  done, 
frequently  in  haste  and  with  an  absence  of  refine- 
ment in  details.     It  is  possible  that  the  future  will 

'Cf.  Raney,  M.  L.  The  multigraph  and  the  flexotype 
in  cataloging  work.  Library  Journal,  December,  1911,  v. 
36,  p.  629-32. 


CATALOGING  METHOD  107 

see  extensive  improvements  and  the  wide  adoption 
of  such  means  of  duplication. 

Typewriter.  The  cards  can  be  copied  on  a  type- 
writer, but  of  course  each  one  must  then  be  revised 
separately.  Care  should  be  given  to  securing 
proper  card  holders,  platens,  and  record  ribbons. 
The  ribbons  containing  the  so-called  "copying" 
inks  must  never  be  used  on  card  work,  as  this  ink 
both  fades  quickly  and  smears  badly.  Ribbons 
made  by  any  of  the  prominent  manufacturers  which 
are  guaranteed  by  the  makers  to  be  for  "record" 
purposes  contain  a  large  percentage  of  carbon,  and 
have  given  satisfactory  results  under  the  most  ex- 
acting tests. 

Hand  copying.  If  cards  are  copied  by  hand,  or 
all  made  by  the  cataloger,  two  precautions  must  be 
observed.  First,  the  ink  must  be  a  true  record 
ink,  such  as  conforms  to  the  tests  for  durability 
instituted  by  the  Massachusetts  Commissioner  of 
Records.^  Second,  the  copying  must  be  entirely 
legible.  A  "library"  hand  is  not  an  absolute  nec- 
essity, but  it  is  generally  a  decided  advantage  to 
acquire  it.  Many  librarians  prefer  the  "dis- 
jointed" hand  or  print  form  to  the  ordinary  vertical 
cursive  handwriting  taught  in  the  schools. 

It  is  probable  that  the  future  will  see  some  me- 
chanical copier,  or  even  some  machine  for  photo- 

^  Cf .  Massachusetts.  Record  Commission.  Report  on 
record  inks  and  paper,  Boston,  1891,  and  subsequent  re- 
ports. 


108  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

graphic  reproduction  of  cards  which  will  displace 
hand  copying  entirely. 

FILING 

When  the  cards  are  all  made  and  revised  they 
must  be  filed  in  the  various  catalogs.  This  is  a 
much  more  serious  task  than  is  commonly  supposed, 
and  grows  more  difficult  with  the  rapid  increase  in 
size  of  our  card  catalogs.  Absolute  accuracy  in 
filing  is  a  sine  qua  non  in  the  card  catalog.  This 
means  not  only  the  consistent  following  of  rules  of 
arrangement,  but  no  carelessness  and  no  mistakes. 
As  a  matter  of  physiological  psychology  we  know 
that  very  few  persons  are  capable  of  continuous 
filing  for  several  hours  without  undue  fatigue  which 
surely  results  in  inaccuracy. 

Filers  should  then  be  chosen  with  great  care  and 
by  thorough  tests.  A  physique  which  will  enable 
one  to  stand  at  the  cases  (or  to  get  up  and  down 
very  often,  if  the  filing  is  done  sitting),  for  some 
hours  daily,  eyes  which  are  not  easil}''  strained  by 
sustained  attention  to  details  of  cards  in  order  to 
preserve  a  strictly  alphabetic  arrangement,  and  an 
accurate  habit  of  mind  must  be  sought  for  and 
found,  if  the  filing  is  to  be  done  well.  If  it  is  done 
ill,  the  whole  cataloging  force  will  fall  into  disrepute. 
Some  people  are  born  filers.  They  can  keep  at  it 
day  in  and  day  out  without  strain  and  without 


CATALOGING   METHOD  109 

error.  But  they  are  rare.  Others  file  very  well  for 
a  couple  of  hours,  and  then  the  eye  and  hand  fatigue 
begins  to  tell,  and  frightful  errors  are  perpetrated. 
Such  persons,  when  they  must  be  used  for  filing, 
should  never  be  allowed  to  work  up  to  their  phys- 
ical limit.  No  beginner  should  ever  be  set  to  filing 
in  the  public  or  the  official  catalog. 

Arrangement.  The  rules  for  arrangement  gen- 
erally followed  are  those  given  in  Cutter's  Rules  (4th 
ed.,  p.  111-129).  It  would  be  an  admirable  thing  if 
the  main  features  of  these  rules  could  be  reduced 
to  small  compass  and  posted  conspicuously  about 
the  catalog.  They  might  well  be  printed  on  some 
of  the  guide  cards  used  in  each  drawer. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  arrangement  of  large 
card  catalogs  will  always  prove  a  difficult  matter, 
even  to  one  who  has  had  long  experience  in  consult- 
ing them.  Because  of  the  necessity  for  proper  ar- 
rangement of  sub-headings,  series,  headings  which 
are  identical  in  form  but  not  in  sense,  headings  of 
almost  exactly  similar  form,  etc.,  the  card  catalog 
will  always  need  an  interpreter  in  practice.  It  is 
helpful  to  indicate  (preferably  on  a  guide  card)  the 
subheadings  to  follow  every  principal  entr}^  whether 
author  or  subject,  as  is  generally  done  in  book  cata- 
logs. By  means  of  this  device  the  reader  can  tell 
just  where  he  is  to  look  among  subject  cards  filling 
half  a  tray  for  the  particular  subhead  of  which  he 
is  in  search. 


110  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

Non-alphabetic  arrangement.  It  is  ordinarily 
assumed  that  tlie  arrangement  in  a  card  catalog 
must  be  an  alphabetic  one — at  least  in  other  than 
classified  catalogs.  Under  subjects,  however,  it 
may  well  be  a  chronological  or  inverse-chronological 
order  which  is  followed. 

Books  falling  within  a  certain  period  may  well  be 
grouped  in  the  card  catalog  as  the}'-  are  in  most 
classification  systems  and  as  they  would  be  in  a 
scientific  bibliography.  There  is  even  a  certain 
convenience  in  placing  the  card  for  the  latest  book 
first  under  subject  headings.  A  specialized  library 
would  find  this  arrangement  a  great  benefit  to  its 
readers. 

Guide  cards.  A  card  catalog  can  hardly  have 
too  many  guide  cards.  If  the  catalog  is  to  be 
handled  by  many  persons,  the  guides  should  be 
protected  by  celluloid,  or  metal  tips.  Several  pat- 
terns of  these  are  on  the  market.  In  the  matter 
of  numerous  guides  librarians,  who  gave  the  card 
index  to  business,  may  well  learn  from  the  practice 
of  commercial  houses.  A  guide  should  be  made  for 
each  author  heading  having  fifteen  or  more  cards, 
and  for  each  sub-heading.  Every  subject  heading 
and  sub-heading  should  have  a  separate  guide  card. 
Where  so  many  guides  are  used  they  need  not  be  of 
such  extremely  thick  bristol  board  as  is  now  com- 
monly employed.  The  filers  should  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  making  guides  as  needed. 


Chapter  VII 
SUBJECT  HEADINGSi 

There  are  no  such  fixed  principles  for  subject 
entry  as  years  of  practice  have  developed  for  author 
entry.  But  few  guides  to  subject  cataloging  have 
been  published,^  and  there  has  been  no  general 
agreement  on  the  theory  of  the  subject  catalog  such 
as  the  development  of  the  printed  card  has  produced 
for  author  catalogs. 

And  yet  no  library  worthy  of  the  name  fails  to 
give  its  readers  some  sort  of  clue  or  guide  to  the 
contents  of  its  collections.  Its  first  purpose  is, 
generally  speaking,  to  provide  an  inventory  of  its 
books  as  they  stand  on  the  shelves  (shelf -list),  then 
to  give  an  inventory  by  authors  (the  author  cata- 
log), and  last,  perhaps  because  most  difficult,  comes 
the  index,  or  guide,  or  key  to  the  subject  matter  of 
the  books.  Most  librarians  are  fairly  well  satisfied 
with  their  shelf-lists  and  author  catalogs  if  they  are 
reasonably  up  to  date  and  accurate.  But  few 
librarians  and  fewer  scholars  who  use  libraries  are 
thoroughly  well  satisfied  with  their  subject  catalogs. 

1  Adapted  in  part  from  a  paper  read  at  the  A.  L.  A.  Con- 
ference, 1906. 

2  Cutter's  Rules  contain  aome  admirable  chapters  on  the 
theory  of  subject  entry. 

Ill 


112  MODERN    LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

The  principles  of  author  entry  are  indeed  not  all 
determined.  But  the  comparative  simplicity  of 
the  rules  now  in  force,  and  the  substantial  progress 
already  made  toward  uniform  and  sane  entries 
show  that  we  are  fairly  successful  on  the  side  of 
author  cataloging.  Methods  of  indicating  to  read- 
ers what  the  library  possesses  on  the  subjects  of 
interest  to  them  are  by  no  means  so  simple  or  so 
uniform.  This  chapter,  then,  is  devoted  to  some 
of  the  important  problems  of  subject  cataloging. 

There  have  been  two  convenient  tools  available 
for  use  in  forming  catalogs  of  subjects.  The  Amer- 
ican Library  Association  List  of  Subject  Head- 
ings, first  published  in  1895,  and  last  issued  in  a 
revised  form  in  1912,  has  been  generally  followed 
as  a  guide  both  for  form  and  for  specific  headings. 
This  is  a  handy  compilation  for  public  libraries, 
but  is  of  little  value  to  libraries  of  other  sorts.  The 
tables  of  sub-heads,  etc.,  are  valuable,  and  the 
numerous  references  suggested  will  at  least  raise 
many  questions  in  the  mind  of  the  cataloger  assign- 
ing subjects. 

The  Library  of  Congress  list  is  now  (1914)  almost 
completed,  and  has  been  available  in  parts  for  some 
time.  It  is,  of  course,  on  a  very  much  larger  scale 
than  the  American  Library  Association  list,  and 
therefore  more  likely  to  contain  helpful  suggestions. 
The  headings  printed  on  the  cards  issued  by  the 
Library  of  Congress  are  a  constant  commentary 


SUBJECT  HEADINGS  113 

on  the  application  of  the  Hst.  Names  of  places  and 
persons  are  not  printed  in  either  list.  They  will 
be  found  to  form  a  very  large  percent  of  the  total 
number  of  subject  cards.  The  Library  of  Congress 
list  shows  naturally  very  many  sub-divisions  of 
topics  which  smaller  libraries  do  not  need  to  follow 
at  the  outset.  The  cards  on  a  given  topic  can  al- 
ways be  taken  up  as  a  block  for  sub-division  when 
this  becomes  desirable. 

Uniformity  in  rules.  At  present  no  two  libra- 
ries are  likely  to  agree  on  their  entries  for  subjects 
which  are  not  proper  names.  While  a  man  may 
go  into  almost  any  American  library  and  find  the 
entries  for  authors  practically  the  same  as  in 
most  other  institutions,  he  never  knows  whether 
his  previous  experience  will  aid  him  in  running 
down  books  on  any  given  topic.  The  very  fact 
that  the  unit  card  may  be  made  to  fit  into  any 
scheme  of  subject  entry,  whether  classified  or  alpha- 
betical, has  rendered  librarians  indifferent  to  the 
need  or  desirability  of  uniform  methods  of  treating 
subjects.  Moreover  there  is  generally  no  guide 
furnished  (in  the  case  of  dictionary  catalogs,  at  all 
events)  to  the  method  which  has  been  followed. 
An  investigator  is  left  to  find  this  out  from  his 
actual  study  of  the  catalog.  This  practice — or 
lack  of  practice — is  clearly  a  strategic  error.  Every 
possible  effort  should  be  made  by  means  of  signs, 
guide  cards,  labels,  etc.,  and  even  by  explanatory 


114  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

pamphlets  and  personal  assistance  to  render  the 
use  of  the  subject  catalog  speedy  and  accurate. 
Uniformity  of  treatment  of  subject  entries  is  un- 
doubtedly to  be  secured  in  the  future  by  agree- 
ment between  librarians  as  uniformity  in  author 
entries  was  in  the  past. 

Simplicity.  It  must  be  laid  down  as  the  prime 
essential  of  all  subject  catalog  work  that  the  end 
in  view  is  the  rapid  and  easy  consultation  of  the 
catalog  by  the  student  who  uses  it.  I  say  "stu- 
dent," because  no  one  spends  much  time  on  a  subject 
catalog  who  is  not  interested  in  some  subject  to  the 
extent  of  wanting  to  see  what  books  the  library  has 
on  that  topic.  Now  he  must  not  be  discouraged 
at  the  outset  by  a  formidable  and  intricate  machine 
which  only  an  expert  can  use.  The  catalog  must 
be  so  constructed  that  he  can  discover  easily  and 
quickly  what  he  wants  to  know.  This  seems  a 
simple  requisite.  Yet  practice  shows  that  it  is 
one  of  the  most  difficult  ends  to  secure.  No 
amount  of  ingenuity  can  make  a  subject  catalog 
which  shall  be  absolutely  without  flaw  in  the  matter 
of  uniformity;  no  one  can  always  consult  it  without 
effort.  The  student  who  knows  at  least  a  little  of 
his  subject  and  related  subjects  must  then  be  the 
normal  "public"  of  a  subject  catalog.  But  his 
road  must  be  made  straight  and  the  rough  places 
must  be  made  plain  for  him.  Ease  of  consultation, 
then,  may  be  laid  down  as  a  fundamental  basis  for 
work. 


SUBJECT  HEADINGS  115 

Rapidity  and  ease  of  consultation  will  be  secured 
only  by  most  careful  planning.  There  are  certain 
decisions  which  must  be  made  by  every  librarian 
beginning  or  revising  a  catalog  of  subjects.  Once 
taken,  these  decisions  must  be  adhered  to,  while  a 
change  once  decided  on  must  be  carried  out  root 
and  branch.  Too  many  subject  catalogs  are  med- 
leys of  opposing  decisions  of  different  catalogers,  all 
made  in  good  faith  and  with  the  best  of  motives. 
As  compared  with  the  author  catalog  there  are  few 
means  of  checking  divergences.  Careful  planning, 
then,  is  half  the  battle.  It  matters  little,  from  one 
point  of  view,  what  the  decision  is.  The  important 
thing  is  to  have  a  conscious  policy  and  to  stick  to  it. 

Uniformity  in  treatment.  The  larger  the  library 
the  greater  is  the  need  for  uniformity  in  the  matter 
of  subject  headings.  The  small  library  need  not 
concern  itself  greatly  about  principles  of  subject 
entry.  When  its  books  are  all  easily  accessible, 
its  readers  and  the  library  staff  alike  will  rely  on 
classification  and  current  bibliography  rather  than 
on  catalogs.  When  a  man  can  go  straight  to  the 
shelves  and  pull  down  in  a  few  minutes  all  the  books 
in  the  library  having  any  possible  bearing  on  the 
thing  he  wants  to  know,  he  does  not  care  much  for 
a  set  of  cards  in  a  tray.  But  the  library  which  con- 
fidently expects  to  become  large  must  needs  beware. 
The  day  when  the  librarian  or  reference  librarian 
with  his  ordinarv  tools  can  answer  all  ordinary 


116  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

questions  will  pass  suddenly,  and  then,  if  the  sub- 
ject catalog  work  has  been  badly  or  inadequately 
done,  come  confusion  and  trouble.  Particularly 
is  this  true  of  college  libraries.  Their  catalogs  are 
likely  to  get  out  of  hand  easily,  and  they  are  liable 
to  periods  of  sudden  inflation  by  gift,  and  the  most 
careful  attention  is  needed  lest  the  entries  under 
subjects  become  the  butt  of  students  and  faculty, 
the  despair  of  the  reference  librarian,  and  the  tor- 
ment of  the  cataloger. 

Changes  of  nomenclature.  One  of  the  greatest 
obstacles  to  successful  work  in  this  field  is  the  un- 
fortunate fact  that  fashions  in  nomenclature  change 
rapidly.  Such  headings  as  Mental  Philosophy, 
Natural  Philosophy,  Fluxions,  and  scores  of  others 
current  not  so  long  since  would  hardly  help  the 
student  of  today.  But  more  puzzling  to  him  than 
these  odd  and  old-fashioned  forms  will  be  the  vague 
sort  of  "catch-all"  headings  that  so  frequently  get 
into  card  catalogs  which  do  not  have  to  be  sub- 
jected to  the  test  of  cold  print.  "  Practical  Piety  " 
in  one  card  catalog  I  have  seen  was  made  to  cover 
all  modern  sociological  and  economic  works. 

Dej&nition.  The  one  essential  for  securing  con- 
tinuity and  correctness  in  subject  work  is  definition 
of  the  subject  heading  combined  with  sharp  direc- 
tions as  to  its  use  in  the  library's  practice.  It  is 
not  enough  to  determine  on  a  heading.  It  must  in 
all  doubtful  cases  be  defined  most  carefully  and  the 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  117 

definition  preserved.  The  manner  of  interpreting 
the  definition  in  practice  must  also  be  indicated. 
In  other  words,  a  (card)  list  of  subject  headings  in 
use  with  all  needed  notes  should  be  kept  in  every 
cataloging  room.  The  extent  to  which  these  notes 
should  appear  in  the  public  catalog  is  a  matter  for 
individual  judgment. 

Encyclopaedias.  Before  taking  up  details,  let  me 
call  attention  to  one  source  of  assistance  and  guid- 
ance which  is  too  often  overlooked.  Since  the 
seventeenth  century  the  makers  of  encyclopaedias 
have  been  working  at  this  problem.  Scores  of 
excellent  encyclopaedias  have  been  in  constant  use 
in  our  reference  rooms — and  even  in  our  cataloging 
rooms — but  have  they  been  studied  diligently  as 
models  for  headings?  We  may  be  very  sure  that 
they  have  been  studied  by  their  makers  with 
exactly  our  chief  problem  in  mind ;  and  that  is  how 
to  choose  a  caption  which  shall  in  a  single  easily 
understood  word  or  phrase  express  the  topic  to  be 
treated  so  clearly  and  definitely  that  it  may  be 
found  and  comprehended  at  once.  The  good  ency- 
clopaedias do  not  show  the  fatuous  entries  and  refer- 
ences found  even  in  good  catalogs.  There  is  doubt- 
less a  reason.  It  lies  partly  in  the  excellence  of  the 
editorial  supervision  for  which  publishers  can  afford 
to  pay,  and  partly  in  the  undoubted  fact  that  each 
encyclopaedia  is  based  on  half  a  dozen,  or  perhaps 
half  a  hundred,  predecessors,  and  thus  the  headings 


118  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

as  well  as  the  articles  are  in  a  continual  state  of 
revision.  The  fact  that  the  headings  are  all  in 
print  in  convenient  form,  and  are  easily  seen  and 
found,  is  also  a  great  aid  in  producing  uniformity 
of  editorial  treatment.  Still  the  fact  remains  for 
us  to  ponder.  Encyclopaedias  seem  to  present 
fewer  difficulties  in  consultation  than  subject  cata- 
logs, and  are  familiarly  and  easily  used  by  many 
people  to  whom  a  card  catalog  is  a  bugbear. 

Specific  headings.  Everybody  is  agreed  on  the 
fundamental  principle  that  in  dictionary  cataloging 
the  "specific"  subject  must  be  the  norm.  We 
want  to  get  exactly  the  caption  which  fits  our  book 
and  no  other.  Especially  do  we  wish  to  avoid 
general  headings  for  treatises  covering  a  limited 
field.  A  man  looking  for  a  book  on  trees  does  not 
want  to  be  sent  to  look  through  all  the  cards  on 
botany,  nor  does  the  inquirer  for  information  about 
Nelson  want  to  see  all  the  cards  on  British  naval 
history  and  biography.  He  wants  what  the  library 
has  about  Nelson.  The  smallest  possible  unit 
must  be  sought  out  and  made  the  basis  for  the  sub- 
ject heading. 

Class  headings.  But  the  library  has  also  books 
— many  thousands  of  books,  probably — which  do 
not  deal  with  one  small,  particular  topic.  It  has 
treatises  on  Botany  and  British  naval  heroes. 
Hence  there  arises  of  necessity  a  set  of  subjects  of  a 
general  nature,  which  are  in  effect  identical  with 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  119 

the  large  divisions  of  the  classifications.  We  have 
general  treatises  on  Philosophy,  on  Rehgion,  on 
Sociology,  on  Philology,  and  so  forth.  And,  fur- 
ther, we  have  general  works  on  such  topics  as 
Physics,  Electricity,  Mathematics,  Latin  literature, 
Hydraulics,  Political  science.  Psychology,  side  by 
side  with  works  of  equal  bulk  and  importance  on 
divisions  of  those  subjects,  such  as  Heat,  Alternat- 
ing currents.  Differential  invariants,  Latin  pastoral 
poetry.  Canal  locks.  Proportional  representation, 
the  Sense  of  touch.  There  must  be  general  head 
ings,  class  headings,  in  the  catalog.  The  difficulty 
is  to  use  them  wisely.  These  general  headings  must 
never  be  used  for  anything  but  general  treatises 
of  an  inclusive  sort.  They  will  be  the  same  in  a 
classed  and  in  a  dictionary  catalog,  and  should  be 
treated  alike  in  both.  Moreover,  a  first-rate  dic- 
tionary catalog  will  use  under  these  class  headings — 
or  headings  common  to  both  sorts  of  catalogs — a 
few  of  the  simple  and  large  subdivisions  of  classifi- 
cations, such  as  History,  Essays  and  addresses, 
Outlines,  syllabi,  etc.  In  doing  this  it  will  not 
violate  the  dictionary  principle. 

But  we  should  stop  right  here.  Use  the  class 
headings  when  needed,  but  let  everybody  under- 
stand that  they  are  strictly  limited  in  their  scope. 
Put  it  on  the  guide  card  so  that  all  may  see  that 
"General  works  only  are  listed  under  this  caption. 
For  special  treatises  consult  the  cards  with  the 


120  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

heading  of  the  particular  subject  wanted."  An 
example  should  be  given  in  each  instance,  and  more 
than  one,  if  necessary.  In  the  case  of  the  guide 
card  for  Chemistry  there  should  be  a  statement 
that  works  on  particular  chemical  products  and 
compounds  are  to  be  sought  under  their  own  names. 
The  illustration  might  perhaps  take  such  a  form  as 
this — "for  example,  treatises  on  Chloroketodi- 
methyltetrahydrobenzene  will  be  found  under  that 
word." 

It  should  be  said,  further,  that  caution  is  nec- 
essary at  this  point.  Because  some  headings  must 
be  the  same  in  any  sort  of  catalog,  and  because 
some  which  are  definitely  group  headings  have  to 
be  used  as  a  practical  matter  of  common  sense  in  a 
dictionary  catalog,  catalogers  are  continually  re- 
verting to  these  class  headings.  It  is  vastly  easier 
to  label  a  book  Sociology  than  to  pin  its  generally 
elusive  contents  down  to  one  particular  phase  of 
social  inquiry.  We  all  tend  to  move  unconsciously 
along  the  lines  of  least  resistance.  We  shall  never 
get  our  catalog  of  specific  headings  without  con- 
stant vigilance,  constant  self-criticism,  and  drastic 
revision.  We  must  have  class  headings  so  long  as 
libraries  are  not  composed  wholly  of  theses  for  the 
doctorate.  And  we  must  avoid  them  as  much  as 
possible. 

Literary  form  headings.  There  is  a  special  kind 
of  class  heading  which  occurs  with  exasperating 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  121 

frequency,  i.e.  the  so-called  "forms  of  literature," 
such  as  poetry,  ballads,  essays,  orations  and  fic- 
tion. Shall  these  be  left  out  of  subject  catalogs? 
Many  libraries  omit  them.  Shall  we  say  to  the  stu- 
dent looking  for  German  ballads,  "They  are  all 
classified  in  number  so  and  so?  "  But  then,  they  are 
not  all  so  classified.  There  are  dozens  of  volumes 
of  them  in  collections  of  one  sort  and  another,  for 
one  thing.  Shall  we  let  novels  go  without  subject 
cards  and  depend  on  a  special  finding  list  of  fiction? 
Shall  we  lump  them  all  under  Fiction  in  the  subject 
catalog?  Shall  we  subdivide  fiction  and  the 
"forms"  by  language,  or  perhaps  by  nationality? 
Or  shall  we  classify  fiction  in  our  subject  catalog, 
and  put  historical  novels  with  the  history  divisions 
to  which  they  supposedly  belong?  In  answer,  it 
is  enough  to  say  that  the  form  divisions  in  a  subject 
catalog  when  thoroughly  made  and  kept  up  to  date 
are  a  great  help  in  reference  work.  (And  the  refer- 
ence work  should  be  in  close  touch  with  the  catalog 
work  for  their  mutual  good.)  It  is,  moreover,  a 
considerable  advantage  to  carry  out  the  principle 
that  every  author  card,  generally  speaking,  should 
have  a  subject  card  matching  it.  Incidentally  it 
may  be  remarked  that  some  librarians  have  found  a 
mild  form  of  the  classification  of  fiction  a  great  help. 
I  refer  to  such  headings  as  U.  S.  History,  Civil  war, 
Fiction,  which  have  satisfied  many  a  lazy  body  who 
wished  to  take  his  history  diluted  and  disguised. 


122  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

Subject  or  region.  There  are  few  librarians  who 
will  not  follow  us  up  to  this  point.  Everj^one  agrees 
that  we  cannot  wholly  escape  headings  which  are 
the  same  as  the  major  divisions  of  any  classification, 
and  most  libraries  make  some  sort  of  subject  lists 
of  their  works  of  so-called  pure  literature.  But 
when  we  come  to  those  large  subjects  which  from 
their  very  nature  suggest  a  geographical  subdivision 
we  leave  uniformity  behind.  There  is  hardly  any 
such  thing,  for  example,  as  a  treatment  of  Mathe- 
matics, or  Logic,  by  countries,  although  we  do  find 
works  on  Greek  Mathematics.  These  are,  how- 
ever, incidental  to  a  certain  period  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  science,  and  not  a  proper  regional  divi- 
sion such  as  may  well  be  demanded  in  the  case  of 
Agriculture,  or  Geology,  or  Architecture.  The 
pure  sciences,  then,  do  not  enter  very  largely  into 
this  problem.  But  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
subjects  about  which  books  are  written  offer  a 
double  interest.  They  may  be  considered  from  the 
view-point  of  the  region  or  country  described,  or 
from  that  of  the  subject  treated.  A  work  on  the 
geology  of  Texas,  for  instance,  may  seem  to  belong 
to  Texas,  and  to  require  the  subheading  Geology; 
or  it  may  appear  to  have  its  chief  interest  for  the 
geologist,  in  which  case  it  goes  under  Geology,  with 
the  inevitable  subhead  Texas.  This  is  all  familiar 
enough.  Mr.  Cutter  (Sec.  164)  insisted  that  the 
only  satisfactory  solution  of  this  problem  was  that 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  123 

of  double  subject  entry.  With  this  view  I  cannot 
agree.  A  consistent  pohcy  with  regard  to  this  class 
of  subject  headings  which  will  rigorously  enter 
under  either  the  topic  or  the  country  is  demanded 
in  the  interests  alike  of  economy  and  of  common 
sense.  Whatever  decision  is  taken,  a  reference 
must  be  made  from  the  opposite  form.  Thus,  if 
the  library  decides  to  enter  under  Geology. Texas, 
there  should  be  a  subject  reference  from  Texas. 
Geology.  Such  a  subject  reference  is  much  better 
than  duplication  of  hundreds  of  subject  cards. 

But  what  shall  the  policy  be?  The  practice  of 
our  leading  printed  catalogs  is  extremely  varied. 
On  the  one  hand  we  have  a  tendency  to  provide 
long  lists  of  subheads  under  each  country.  This 
is  the  practice  at  least  impliedly  recommended  in 
the  American  Library  Association's  ''List  of  sub- 
ject headings"  by  the  printing  of  the  long  list  of 
subheads  to  be  used  under  country  and  state.  On 
the  other  hand,  to  cite  but  a  single  instance,  the 
Subject  Index  of  the  British  Museum  restricts 
vigorously  the  entry  under  the  country  or  region, 
and  allows  but  few  subheads.  Between  the  two 
plans  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed.  One  assumes  that 
a  reader  thinks  along  geographical  lines  when  he 
wants  a  book,  and  looks  under  Greece  for  a  book 
on  Greek  Architecture  or  Mythology,  or  for  a 
treatise  on  the  Geology  or  Agriculture  or  Education 
of  that  country.     Perhaps  he   does.     The  other 


124  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

presumes  that  a  reader  considers  his  subject  first, 
and  then  runs  down  its  geographical  ramifications 
later.  Is  there  any  principle  on  which  this  matter 
may  be  decided?  Must  we  in  each  case  make 
special  decisions?  There  is  at  least  one  principle 
which  favors  grouping  by  countries  rather  than  by 
topics.  It  is  generally  held  that  the  dictionary 
catalog  should  supplement  rather  than  copy  the 
classification.  Now  the  books  will  doubtless  be 
classified  on  the  shelves  by  subjects  rather  than  by 
country  in  these  topics  which  admit  of  double  treat- 
ment. Therefore  if  books  treating  of  such  topics 
as  Education,  Missions,  Agriculture,  Slavery, 
Architecture,  Painting,  etc.,  from  a  regional  or 
national  point  of  view — as  Central  African  Missions 
— and  not  covering  the  whole  field,  are  entered 
under  the  country  or  region,  the  subject  catalog 
will  show  more  about  those  regions  than  the  classi- 
fication will  at  any  one  point.  This  seems  almost 
the  sole  argument  for  making  use  of  this  form  of 
entry. 

Now,  on  the  contrary,  it  would  seem  that  the 
British  Museum  practice  and  that  of  the  Library  of 
Congress  are  more  nearly  in  line  with  the  habit  of 
readers  and  the  view-point  of  the  makers  of  books. 
If  we  leave  out  the  historical  sciences,  the  main  in- 
terest is  the  topic  and  not  the  region.  In  the  pure 
sciences  we  have  already  noted  the  elimination  of 
the  regional  or  national  principle.     In  the  applied 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  125 

sciences  and  the  arts,  both  useful  and  fine,  we  may 
safely  do  the  same  thing.  These  divisions  are  very 
extensive.  It  is  well,  then,  to  adopt  a  deliberate 
policy  of  restricting  the  entries  under  the  country  or 
region  to  those  topics  which  have  a  strictly  local 
interest,  i.e.,  the  field  of  the  historical  sciences,  and 
such  of  the  social  sciences  as  depend  for  their  value 
on  local  conditions.  To  be  specific,  do  not  put  a 
book  on  the  geology  of  Texas  under  Texas,  but 
under  Geology  with  the  subheading  Texas.  Limit 
the  subheads  under  a  country  to  those  which  seem 
absolutely  necessary.  For  everything  else  which 
might  be  expected  under  country  make  a  subject 
reference  card.  This  may  be  begging  the  question. 
It  may  be  abandoning  the  search  for  a  guiding 
principle.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  habit  of 
most  readers  and  authors  is  a  fair  guide.  After  all 
it  is  for  them  that  the  catalog  is  made. 

One  word  before  leaving  this  topic.  At  no  other 
point  of  subject  catalog  work  is  definite  adherence 
to  a  fixed  rule  more  necessary  than  here.  A  deci- 
sion once  taken  in  this  matter  should  be  rigidly  exe- 
cuted. If  this  is  done,  the  people  who  use  the  cata- 
log will  quickly  learn  to  follow  the  principle  adopted 
and  will  in  consequence  consult  the  catalog  with 
ease. 

Ethnic  adjective.  If  the  practice  of  restricting 
the  entries  under  subheads  of  countries  or  locality 
be  followed,  we  at  once  encounter  the  difficulty  of 


126  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

the  co-called  "national  adjective."  Having  elimi- 
nated France.Art,  are  we  going  to  cut  out  French 
Art,  Greek  Mythology,  Roman  Roads?  Certainly 
we  must.  We  must  say  Art. France,  Mythology. 
Greece  ,  Roads. i^ome,  or  we  shall  soon  find  ourselves 
in  a  maze  of  confusion.  It  will,  however,  be  nec- 
essary, to  use  the  national  or  linguistic  adjective 
with  the  literature  or  language  of  a  country  or 
region.  We  shall  probably  be  obliged  to  say  French 
language  and  French  literature,  since  France.Lan- 
guage  and  FranQe. Literature  do  not  necessarily 
express  the  same  ideas.  As  in  the  case  of  France, 
so  also  in  many  other  instances  the  national  and 
linguistic  areas  are  not  identical.  German  lan- 
guage and  German  literature,  for  example,  are 
wider  in  their  scope  than  the  political  boundaries 
of  the  present  German  Empire,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  English  language.  The  linguistic  and 
national  areas  are  different  in  Switzerland,  in  India, 
and  in  many  other  regions.  Another  objection  to 
the  use  of  the  ethnic  or  national  adjective  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  we  have  all  sorts  of  corporations 
and  institutions  whose  names  begin  with  American, 
British,  French,  etc.  Read  the  headings  beginning 
with  either  "American"  or  "British"  in  the  pub- 
lished catalogs  made  on  the  dictionary  principle 
of  any  of  our  libraries,  and  see  what  a  medley  is 
produced  by  the  mingling  of  names  and  topics. 
The  national  adjective  should  be  eliminated  from 


SUBJECT  HEADINGS  127 

subject  headings,  save  for  the  two  hnguistic  usages 
mentioned.  This  will  cause  some  trouble,  for  a 
great  many  people  are  accustomed  to  think  of 
American  Indians,  British  commerce,  French  por- 
celain, etc.  But  the  practice  will  save  trouble,  too. 
It  will  reduce  the  number  of  places  in  which  one 
must  look  for  a  topic  (the  chief  drawback  of  Poole's 
Index) ,  it  will  obviate  much  apparent  confusion  in 
the  arrangement  of  headings,  and  it  will  introduce 
some  system  into  alphabetical  subject  catalogs  at 
a  point  where  system  is  much  needed.  The  prac- 
tice of  the  encyclopaedias  is  against  the  extensive 
use  of  the  national  adjective.^ 

It  may  be  objected  to  this  that  we  merely  transfer 
our  excessive  use  of  subheadings  from  the  country 
heading  to  the  subject  or  topic  heading.  It  may 
further  be  urged  that  by  this  plan  the  subdivisions 
under  topics  become  very  unwieldy.  Of  course 
the  subheads  undoubtedly  become  more  numerous 
under  the  topic,  but  they  belong  there  rationally, 
and  there  will  be  plenty  left  under  the  country. 
The  person  consulting  the  catalog  is  obliged,  it  is 
true,  to  run  his  eye  over  many  guide  cards,  and  per- 
haps over  several  trays  to  find  his  particular  books. 
But  that  is  far  easier  for  him  than  going  from  one 
part  of  the  catalog  to  another,  looking  now  under 
France  and  now  under  Spain  for  a  work  on  the 

^  There  are  some  exceptions,  notably  the  most  recent 
edition  of  Brockhaus. 


128  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

mineralogy  of  the  Pyrenees,  for  instance.  Again 
he  remains  certain,  after  looking  at  the  subdivisions 
under  Mineralogy,  that  he  will  not  have  to  look  also 
at  the  cards  headed  Pyrenees  Mts. — he  has  all  the 
cards  before  him  for  Mineralogy.  We  cannot 
eliminate  subheadings  from  the  alphabetical  subject 
catalog.  At  least,  if  we  can,  no  one  has  arisen  to 
to  show  us  how.  If  a  separate  guide  card  is 
used  for  each  heading  and  subheading,  we  shall 
find  the  difficulty  of  consultation  very  greatly 
diminished. 

Inversion.  It  will  have  occurred  to  those  who 
have  followed  this  discussion  thus  far  that  a  good 
many  subheadings  under  both  country  and  subject 
might  be  avoided  by  the  use  of  inversion.  We 
might  say,  "Roads,  Roman,"  "Architecture, 
Gothic,"  "Psychology,  Social,"  etc.  The  use  of 
inversion  has  its  chief  defense,  it  seems  to  me,  in 
the  fact  that  it  keeps  together  related  topics.  It  is 
certainly  convenient  to  have  "Psychology,  Ani- 
mal," "Psychology,  Comparative,"  "Psychology, 
Morbid,"  "Psychology,  Social"  in  orderly  se- 
quence and  close  together.  But  despite  this  con- 
venience, as  a  matter  of  form  of  heading,  the  prac- 
tice of  inversion  is  to  be  regarded  as  fully  as  per- 
nicious in  the  dictionary  subject  catalog  as  in  the 
author  catalog.  The  objections  to  it  are  patent  and 
well  known.  There  is  one  catalog  which  regularly 
and  always  inverts,  which  enters  under  an  adjective 


SUBJECT  HEADINGS  129 

form  only  in  the  rarest  instances.  I  refer  to  the 
magnificent  Index  Catalogue  of  the  Surgeon  Gen- 
eral's Library.  No  one  will  dispute  the  high 
authority  of  this  catalog  as  a  scientific  product.  It 
is  the  most  remarkable  thing  of  the  kind  ever  done 
in  this  country.  But  I  imagine  that  despite  its 
example  we  may  be  more  truly  scientific  if  we  set 
our  faces  squarely  against  inversion.  The  worst 
thing  about  inversion  is  the  utter  lack  of  certainty 
as  to  which  of  several  forms  may  be  used.  If  in  our 
author  catalogs  we  have  come  to  the  point  where  we 
can  write  "Michigan.  University,"  why  should 
we  not  write  "Psychology.  Animals" f  There  is 
not  space  to  elaborate  here  the  argument  against 
inversion.  We  must  be  content  to  dismiss  it  with 
the  single  proviso  that  well  established  phrases  be- 
ginning with  an  adjective  such  as  Republican  Party, 
Political  Science,  etc.,  need  not  be  called  in  ques- 
tion either  by  those  who  would  always  invert  to 
serve  their  convenience,  or  those  who  are  stead- 
fastly against  the  practice  of  inversion.  The  larger 
question  whether  the  ordinary  phrase,  e.g.,  Com- 
parative anatomy,  Animal  psychology,  should 
not  always  be  employed  instead  of  some  device 
whereby  the  noun  remains  in  the  first  position  is 
well  discussed  by  Mr.  Cutter  in  his  Rules.  My  own 
opinion  is  for  the  regular  use  of  the  current  phrase 
in  the  form  in  which  it  habitually  occurs  in  titles, 
remembering  that   there  are  numerous  cases  in 


130  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

which  a  caption  with  proper  subhead  better  ex- 
presses the  idea. 

Geographical  headings.  There  is  one  class  of 
subjects  which  gives  trouble  alike  to  classifiers 
and  catalogers.  Wherever  a  classification  or  a 
catalog  is  subdivided  on  a  geographical  basis,  or 
wherever  geographical  headings  are  given,  the  fact 
stares  us  in  the  face  that  "geographical  expres- 
sions," to  use  Prince  Metternich's  phrase,  are  by- 
no  means  permanent  or  dependable.  The  map  of 
the  world  has  suffered  startling  changes  since  books 
began  to  be  made.  Certain  dijfficulties  which  con- 
front us  in  geographical  headings  deserve  attention. 

Continents.  Even  the  continents  give  trouble. 
The  terms  America  and  Asia  are  used  very  loosely 
in  popular  speech,  and  even  in  indexes  of  subjects. 
Does  North  America  include  Mexico  and  Central 
America?  Where  does  Western  Asia  leave  off  and 
Central  Asia  begin?  Does  the  term  America  as  a 
heading  or  subheading  include  both  North  and 
South  America?  Shall  we  write  America,  North  or 
North  America?  What  do  we  mean  by  Central 
Africa?  These  are  questions  which  have  but  to 
be  asked  to  raise  sharply  the  point  that  definition 
and  consistent  adherence  to  definition  are  essential 
in  the  geographical  terms  to  be  used.  The  official 
catalog  of  subjects  should  certainly  contain  very 
carefully  planned  directions  as  to  the  use  of  conti- 
nental designations,  as  well  as  those  of  the  smaller 
divisions  of  geography. 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  131 

Extinct  nations.  But  troublesome  as  ill-defined 
geographical  concepts  may  be,  they  are  nothing  in 
the  way  of  difficulty  compared  to  the  names  of  re- 
gions which  have  ceased  to  represent  present  po- 
litical conditions.  There  are  a  number  of  countries 
which  no  longer  exist  as  states,  whose  political  life 
as  separate  entities  has  ceased.  A  region  such  as 
Poland,  for  example,  which  has  been  absorbed  by 
one  or  more  countries  offers  a  most  perplexing  prob- 
lem. The  word  Poland  corresponds  to  nothing 
on  the  map  or  in  official  gazetteers,  but  it  is  still 
in  everybody's  mouth.  Travellers  still  use  the 
old  national  name  on  title  pages  of  descriptive 
works;  historians  and  others  write  on  former  or 
even  present-day  conditions.  And  yet  in  our  larger 
libraries  we  have  official  documents  and  other  works 
treating  of  this  once  independent  state  from  the 
standpoint  of  Prussian,  Austrian  and  Russian 
provinces.  We  can  not  get  around  the  difficulty 
by  lumping  everything  under  the  popular  name. 
Neither  can  we  ignore  it  in  the  case  of  travel  and 
descriptive  works.  (Of  course  I  am  not  referring 
to  books  on  Poland  before  the  partition.)  There 
are  plenty  of  similar  cases,  although  few  with  such 
complications.  It  seems  that  the  common  name 
must  still  be  used  where  it  is  employed  on  title 
pages,  and  that  the  official  regional  designation  of 
the  present  day  must  be  employed  where  needed 
because  of  either  the  title  or  the  contents  of  the 


132  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

work.  This  will  necessitate  a  lengthy  "See  also" 
reference,  a  thing  to  be  avoided  wherever  possible. 
Ancient  regional  names.  Ancient  and  mediaeval 
states  and  countries  with  no  continuing  name  or 
precise  modern  geographical  equivalent  give  less 
difficulty.  Their  ancient  names  may  safely  be 
used.  The  trouble  is,  however,  that  both  descrip- 
tive and  historical  works  dealing  wholly  with  pres- 
ent-day (or  at  least  modern)  conditions  frequently 
employ  the  ancient  name  in  titles.  In  such  cases 
the  modern  form  of  name  should  be  regularly  used 
as  a  heading.  Such  ancient  regions  as  Pontus, 
Epirus,  Dacia,  Africa,  Gaul,  Granada  (Kingdom) 
may  well  receive  separate  subject  entry,  but  it  will 
instantly  be  seen  how  much  confusion  would  arise 
from  using  these  headings  for  modern  works  dealing 
with  present  conditions.  Take  "Africa,"  for  ex- 
ample. Properly  used  it  means  (in  antiquity)  the 
single  Roman  province  erected  on  the  ruins  of  the 
Carthaginian  city-state,  limited  in  its  extent  to 
about  the  boundaries  of  modern  Tunis.  So  used 
the  term  has  a  distinct  value.  But  a  modern  work 
on  Tunis,  or  even  a  discussion  of  archaeological 
r)roblems  occurring  in  the  limits  of  the  ancient 
province  should  not  receive  the  heading  of  Africa. 
There  is,  then,  great  need  for  care  and  a  well-de- 
fined policy  in  these  matters  of  ancient  geographical 
designations  which  have  no  precise  modern  equiva- 
lents.   Somewhere  a  very  careful  working  out  of 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  133 

the  proper  limits  of  the  subject  heading  adopted 
for  such  countries  and  regions  must  be  accessible 
to  the  cataloging  staff,  and  perhaps  to  the  public. 
It  will  not  do,  for  instance,  to  say  merely,  "Tunis — 
See  also  Africa  (Roman  province);"  "Africa 
(Roman  province) — See  also  Tunis."  These  loose 
"See  also"  references  are  the  refuge  of  careless 
catalogers.  In  their  stead  must  be  a  careful  ex- 
planatory note  giving  the  dates  and  boundaries 
within  which  the  heading  is  applicable. 

"  See  also. "  It  may  be  worth  while  to  insert  at 
this  point  a  word  as  to  these  "See  also"  references. 
It  was  a  rule  at  some  time  in  the  dim  and  distant 
past  of  cataloging  to  make  "See  also"  references 
from  each  subject  named  on  a  title  page  to  every 
other  subject  so  named.  All  students  of  catalog- 
ing methods  well  know  some  of  the  ludicrous  results 
of  this  rule.  It  is  creditably  reported  that  as  a 
result  of  this  rule  rigidly  applied  such  references  as 
these  were  made  and  printed.  "Brain,  See  also 
Cheek,  Tumors  of  the;"  "Cheek,  Tumors  of  the. 
See  also  Brain, "  because  forsooth  both  subjects  got 
into  one  of  the  long-winded  titles  of  earlier  days. 
Probably  these  "See  also"  references  cannot  be 
wholly  eliminated  from  catalogs.  It  is  a  very  good 
thing  at  times  to  have  a  student  reminded  of  allied 
topics  and  similar  headings.  But  the  tendency 
to  their  abuse  is  so  great  that  it  would  seem  a  better 
course  to  make  carefully  worded  explanations  rather 


134  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

than  to  multiply  these  references.  And  we  should 
not  suffer  greatlj^  were  they  excluded  entirely  from 
the  subject  catalog. 

Period  divisions.  To  return  to  matters  geo- 
graphical. Few  problems  are  more  difficult  as 
matters  of  actual  practice  than  the  making  of  a 
perfectly  clear  arrangement  in  a  card  catalog  of 
easily  understood  and  intelligible  headings  for 
countries  or  regions  which  have  had  a  continuous 
written  history  from  ancient  to  modern  days.  The 
most  conspicuous  of  these  are  Egypt,  Greece, 
Rome,  and  Syria.  The  boundaries  of  Egypt  have 
been  practically  the  same  from  antiquity  to  the 
present  day.  Hence  we  are  not  so  much  troubled 
by  the  question  of  the  physical  extent  of  the  head- 
ing. But  we  are  directly  "up  against"  the  ques- 
tion whether  we  shall  say  Egypt  (Ancient) ,  Egypt 
(Graeco-Roman) ,  Egypt  (Saracenic),  Egypt  (Turk- 
ish), Egypt  (Modern),  or  something  of  this  sort, 
or  whether  these  headings  should  be  used  as  second 
subheads  following  the  recognized  subdivisions 
under  the  country.  For  example,  Taxation  is  a 
frequently  employed  subheading  under  country, 
and  we  happen  to  have  a  great  mass  of  material 
on  taxation  in  Egypt  in  many  ages.  Shall  we 
write  Egypt  (Ancient).  Taxation,  Egypt(Graeco-Ro- 
laan) .Taxation,  etc.,  or  Egypt. raa;ai*on. (Ancient), 
Egypt. Taxaf ion(Graeco-Roman  period),  etc?  The 
second  method  keeps  the  country  as  the  main 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  135 

heading  and  places  the  period  last,  and  is  therefore 
preferable.  But  in  neither  case  can  we  get  away 
from  three  alphabets  in  arrangement.  The  method 
advocated,  namely,  of  keeping  the  period  division 
last  and  considering  the  topic  as  the  more  important 
matter,  falls  in  with  our  ordinarily  received  method 
for  modern  states.  Thus  we  generally  find  such 
headings  as  this:  United  SiSites.Taxation  (Colo- 
nial period),  rather  than  United  States. (Colonial 
period) .Taxation.  Whichever  method  is  adopted, 
whether  we  break  up  the  country's  history  into 
certain  well-defined  periods  and  treat  these  as  if 
they  were  separate  wholes,  or  whether  we  regard 
the  country  in  all  its  history  as  one  and  arrange  top- 
ics under  it  with  chronological  divisions,  the  dates 
of  the  different  periods  will  have  to  be  worked  out 
with  care  and  recorded  in  the  official  list  of  head- 
ings. When  this  is  done  it  will  probably  be  found 
that  the  books  seldom  fit  the  dates  previously  ar- 
ranged. What  to  do  with  overlapping  books — 
books  which  fit  into  no  general  scheme — is  a  sore 
problem  in  cataloging  as  in  classification.  We 
must  either  go  on  forever  making  new  and  more 
minute  subdivisions  and  arranging  the  subject 
cards  chronologically  by  the  first  date  in  the  head- 
ing, or  else  we  must  assign  the  subject  by  the  pre- 
ponderance of  interest  of  the  book  itself,  placing  it 
in  that  division  of  the  subject  where  most  of  the 
narrative   or    discussion   falls.     The   majority   of 


136  MODERN   LIBRARY   CATALOGING 

catalogers  will  doubtless  prefer  the  latter  method. 
The  specific  dates  may  be  put  in  the  heading  as  a 
matter  of  guidance  to  the  person  consulting  the 
catalog,  but  in  this  case  they  will  be  ignored  in  filing. 
Rome  presents  worse  difficulties  than  Egypt. 
In  the  first  place  we  have  to  encounter  the 
fact  that  both  the  city  and  the  state — originally 
one — have  a  voluminous  literature.  Confusion 
here  is  disastrous,  and  yet  it  is  found  in  many  cata- 
logs. The  city  of  the  seven  hills  must  be  a  subject 
by  itself,  reserved  for  separate  treatment.  Its 
municipal  history  is  to  be  kept  separate — where 
possible — from  the  march  of  the  mighty  empire, 
and  its  monuments  must  receive  treatment  distinct 
from  that  of  Roman  remains  in  general.  It  would 
seem  a  very  good  plan  in  arranging  cards  to  put  the 
country  heading  first,  then  the  city  heading,  and 
finally  the  heading  for  its  numerous  monuments 
and  regions.  Thus  we  should  have  such  classes 
of  headings  as  Home.History. Empire,  Rome  (city). 
History. Middle  Ages,  Rome(city).  Forum  Romanum. 
If  this  distinction  between  the  city  and  the 
state  is  not  made  in  this  and  other  cases,  we  shall 
have  a  confusion  which  will  make  our  catalogs 
unusable.  Moreover,  in  treating  the  Roman  state 
it  will  be  as  necessary  to  define  dates  and  boun- 
daries as  in  the  case  of  Egypt.  There  is  no  need 
to  go  on  to  speak  in  detail  of  Greece  and  other 
countries  having  a  continuous  recorded  history  of 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  137 

many  centuries.  The  need  for  careful  planning  in 
giving  subjects  to  works  on  such  countries  has  been 
fully  shown. 

Ancient  and  modern  names.  Still  another  cause 
of  confusion  is  closely  allied  to  these  we  have  just 
been  considering.  We  have  numerous  cases  in 
which  ancient  and  modern  geographical  terms  do 
not  mean  the  same  thing.  I  have  already  cited 
Africa  as  an  example.  The  loose  habit  of  catalogers 
of  projecting  modern  geographical  terms  into  the 
past  is  most  discouraging  to  students.  Take,  for 
example,  such  designations  as  Germany  and 
Austria,  to  cite  large  regions.  Their  boundaries  are 
not  today  what  they  were  even  fifty  years  since, 
and  books  describing  particular  regions  not  formerly 
in  their  limits  and  referring  wholly  to  former  times 
should  not  be  listed  under  the  modern  caption,  if 
suitable  ones  can  be  found  in  the  older  names. 
This  is  merely  the  principle  of  the  specific  heading 
applied  to  geographical  problems.  Again  in  certain 
particulars  the  modern  geographical  term  may 
represent  a  much  smaller  area  than  the  same  term 
at  an  earlier  date.  Venice  and  Genoa  are  instances 
in  point,  and  many  more  might  easily  be  cited.  A 
book  on  the  Venetian  remains  in  the  Greek  islands 
hardly  deserves  a  subject,  Yenice. Description  and 
travel,  although  one  on  the  Venetian  supremacy  in 
the  Levant  might  well  have  a  subject  entry  under 
Venice.     Separate   geographical   entities   such   as 


138  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

islands  and  peninsulas  are  more  easily  treated  as  a 
rule  than  other  regions,  as  confusion  is  less  likely 
to  arise  in  their  cases. 

Finall}^  a  word  should  be  said  in  protest  against 
subject  headings  of  an  indefinite  sort  for  frontier 
or  partially  settled  regions.  "The  West "  in  Amer- 
ican history  is  one  such.  The  phrase  "Old 
Southwest"  is  another.  The  objection  lies  rather 
against  the  indefinite  nature  of  the  heading  than 
against  its  use,  if  once  it  be  well  defined.  The 
various  regions  in  Central  Africa  offer  similar 
difficulties. 

Subjects  having  an  old  and  a  modem  literature. 
If  countries  having  a  continuous  recorded  history 
present  difficult  problems  to  the  cataloger,  so  also  do 
subjects  of  inquiry  which  have  given  occupation 
to  generations  of  scholars.  Such  studies  as  political 
science,  economics,  philosophy,  mathematics,  chem- 
istry, botany,  medicine,  theology,  rhetoric,  etc.,  had 
their  beginning  for  our  Western  world  in  Greece 
and  are  live  topics  today.  History  and  description 
of  countries  show  the  same  long  line  of  writers.  Now 
it  is  obvious  that  some  discrimination  is  needed  in 
cataloging  the  authors  who  for  twenty  odd  centuries 
have  discussed  such  important  subjects  as  the 
theory  of  the  state,  the  art  of  healing,  or  the  science 
of  mathematics.  The  distinctions  which  a  printed 
catalog  can  show  by  varieties  of  type  and  the  rapid 
view  of  many  pages  with  their  headings  are  of 


SUBJECT  HEADINGS  139 

course  impossible  in  a  card  catalog.  If  it  is  mani- 
festly improper  to  compel  the  student  seeking  the 
library's  best  treatise  on  agriculture  to  turn  over 
numerous  cards  for  editions  of  Cato  and  the  other 
Scriptores  de  re  rustica,  so  also  is  it  unwise  to 
neglect  the  fact  that  agriculture  and  all  other 
sciences  have  their  historical  side.  If  we  are  going 
to  give  subjects  to  all  our  books,  then  Cato  must 
have  a  subject  card  somewhere  under  agriculture. 
Here  is  where  the  average  dictionary  catalog  breaks 
down.  It  furnishes  under  such  topics  as  those  we 
have  mentioned  a  dreary  array  of  cards,  frequently 
many  trays  of  them,  through  which  the  discouraged 
student  must  work  to  find  his  modern  books. 
Every  hundred  thousand  volumes  added  to  the 
library  but  increases  the  task  of  consultation.  The 
cards  thus  become  what  no  one  wants,  an  alpha- 
betical list  of  all  the  writers  who  have  ever  treated 
of  a  given  topic.  The  catalog  must  either  distin- 
guish books  whose  value  for  the  subject  is  purely 
historical,  or  it  must  arrange  its  cards  chronolog- 
ically (by  author),  putting  the  latest  works  first. 
In  other  words,  the  alphabetical  principle  of  sub- 
arrangement  must  be  abandoned  under  subjects, 
or  else  we  must  introduce  another  division  under 
these  subjects  having  a  continuous  history,  i.e.,  a 
class  of  books  having  an  historical  value  only. 

But  when  does  a  book  begin  to  have  a  merely 
historical  value?     There's  the  rub!     It  is  not  pos- 


140  MODERN   LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

sible  to  determine  this  by  chronology  alone.  Can 
we  consider  Aristotle  of  merely  historical  im- 
portance in  the  discussion  of  poetry  or  drama,  of 
political  science  or  ethics?  Most  assuredly  not. 
But  yet  his  works  on  physics  and  natural  history 
are  absolutely  without  profit  to  the  average  student 
of  today.  No  one  will  say  that  Kant's  writings  are 
out  of  date,  and  yet  his  psychology  would  hardly 
benefit  the  modern  student  in  our  college  classes. 
It  is  plain  that  discrimination  of  the  highest  order 
must  be  employed  in  this  matter,  or  else  we  must 
adopt  some  mechanical  arrangement  such  as  the 
filing  of  cards  in  chronological  order,  which  after 
all  works  a  sort  of  rough  justice  in  the  matter  of 
relative  values.  Who  can  say  that  the  trays 
headed  Theology  or  Law  in  most  of  our  catalogs 
of  libraries  of  over  one  hundred  thousand  volumes 
are  practically  useful  as  they  stand  today?  Who 
would  not  rather  consult  a  good  bibliography  and 
then  the  author  catalog  for  books  on  those  topics 
than  attack  the  direful  array  of  cards  in  the  hope 
by  some  means  of  at  length  securing  an  interesting 
and  valuable  set  of  references? 

In  formal  political  history  and  in  economic  his- 
tory as  well  the  sources  should  certainly  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  recent  treatises.  The  Ger- 
mania  of  Tacitus,  for  instance,  is  an  excellent  source 
for  the  early  history  of  the  German  Empire,  but 
it  is  positively  foolish  to  list  it  side  by  side  with  the 


SUBJECT  HEADINGS  141 

works  of  Von  Sybel  and  Ranke  under  Germany. 
History.  The  subhead  of  "Sources"  under  history 
is  a  convenient  and  valuable  limbo  for  bygone 
works  and  for  collections  of  documents.  There  is 
opposition,  and  sensible  opposition,  however,  to 
using  it  for  merely  obsolete  treatises. 

Arrangement  by  period.     We  might  adopt  some 
such  scheme  as  this: 
Political  Science.     Modern  works  (since  1850)  a7id 

important  earlier  works. 

Works  between  1500  and  1850. 

• Mediaeval  works. 

Ancient  works. 

The  divisions  suggested  here  might  perhaps  be  the 
same  in  all  cases,  or  they  might  better  be  made  to 
conform  to  well-recognized  divisions  in  the  history 
of  each  topic.  The  alternative  plan  is  the  arrange- 
ment of  cards  by  date  of  publication,  or  by  first 
date  of  the  author  (to  keep  editions  together) .  The 
latter  arrangement  seems  best,  although  it  by  no 
means  commits  the  library  to  the  position  of  as- 
suming that  the  most  recent  work  is  necessarily  the 
best.  Still  the  chances  are  that  it  represents  the 
most  recent  stage  of  investigation.  Almost  every 
librarian  is  willing  to  concede  this  in  the  matter  of 
bibliographies,  acknowledging  that  the  last  to  ap- 
pear should  first  meet  the  eye  of  the  person  consult- 
ing the  catalog.  Why  not  adopt  the  same  principle 
for  every  topic,  as  is  done  in  some  of  our  libraries? 


142  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

We  have,  be  it  remembered,  the  author  entries  at 
hand  for  every  one  who  already  knows  the  authors 
he  wants.  Why  compel  the  seeker  after  information 
to  wade  through  another  author  list  under  each 
topic?  It  may  be  observed  that  an  annotated 
catalog  would  be  almost  forced  to  put  first  its  cards 
for  the  books  most  highly  recommended. 

Number  of  subject  cards  to  a  book.  There  are 
a  few  practical  points  to  be  taken  up  before  closing 
this  chapter.  First,  shall  we  definitely  limit  the 
number  of  subject  cards  to  a  given  book?  In  view 
of  the  immense  size  to  which  card  catalogs  are  grow- 
ing is  it  wise  to  say  that  when  the  library  reaches  a 
certain  size — say  500,000  volumes — it  will  hence- 
forth assume  that  the  necessity  for  making  cards 
for  any  other  than  the  subject  of  prime  interest  in 
a  book  has  passed?  Shall  we  take  it  for  granted 
that  there  will  always  be  other  works  which  cover 
the  topics  of  secondary  interest?  This  view  is 
maintained  in  some  libraries.  I  venture,  however, 
in  opposition  to  this  idea,  to  call  attention  to  the 
statistics  of  certain  work  at  Princeton  published 
in  the  Library  Journal  for  June,  1906.  It  was  there 
shown  that  the  number  of  subject  cards  per  main 
entry  was  1.47,  and  per  title  1.2,  although  no  re- 
striction was  placed  on  the  catalogers  other  than 
a  rigid  insistence  on  the  specific  heading  in  all  cases. 
This  is  so  nearly  the  result  aimed  at  in  the  rule 
that  I  submit  that  it  is  a  better  way  of  attaining 


SUBJECT   HEADINGS  143 

the  desired  restriction  of  the  unduly  rapid  growth 
of  the  card  catalog  than  the  strict  limitation  to  one 
subject  per  book.  It  permits  the  liberal  handling 
of  a  book  which  treats  definitely  of  several  topics, 
and  yet  it  does  not  too  greatly  burden  the  subject 
catalog.  The  device  of  using  but  one  subject  entry 
for  the  various  editions  of  a  work  whose  value  is 
chiefly  historical  would  diminish  the  percent  of 
subject  to  author  cards  to  less  than  one. 

Again,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  urge  that  the  re- 
vision and  coordination  of  subject  headings  should 
be  definitely  assigned  to  one  person.  Only  thus 
can  continuity  and  uniformity  of  the  work  be  se- 
cured. Particularly  is  this  provision  needed  in  our 
largest  libraries.  It  is  also  a  most  vital  matter  of 
practice  that  the  chief  reference  librarian  should  be 
in  constant  touch  with  the  cataloger  who  passes 
finally  on  subject  headings.  They  will  work  to- 
gether to  great  mutual  advantage. 

Official  list  of  subject  headings.  Moreover  I  wish 
once  more  to  set  forth  the  imperative  necessity 
for  an  official  list  of  headings  in  use  in  the  library.^ 
This  should  be  kept  up  to  date  with  the  utmost  care. 
Each  cataloger  should  have  in  convenient  form  a 
list  of  all  subheads  previously  authorized  under 
each  class  of  topics,  together  with  definitions  of  all 
these  subheads.     The  official  list  without  defini- 

*  See  above,  p.  84-85, 


144  MODERN    LIBRARY    CATALOGING 

tions  and  notes  will  be  of  some  small  value, 
but  with  them  will  be  vastly  more  useful.  It 
should  be  kept  where  every  cataloger  can  consult 
it.  The  American  Library  Association  list,  the 
Sydney  list  and  the  new  Library  of  Congress  list, 
admirable  as  they  are  in  their  own  way,  will  not 
suffice  for  any  large  library.  An  up-to-date  list 
of  subjects  with  adequate  definitions  kept  on  cards, 
is  an  absolute  necessity  in  a  well-ordered  catalog 
department. 

Is  the  card  catalog  of  subjects  alphabetically 
arranged  a  real  service  to  an  institution?  Most 
assuredly  it  is.  When  once  it  is  made  on  consistent 
principles,  when  the  student  no  longer  has  to  fumble 
long  trays  of  cards  without  sufficient  headings  or 
guides,  filled  with  all  the  contradictory  accumula- 
tions of  generations  of  catalogers,  when  the  specific 
topic  stands  out  prominently,  when  each  subject 
capable  of  two  interpretations  is  sharply  defined 
on  a  guide  card,  when  consistency  in  geographical 
matters  and  uniformity  of  entry  and  sub-entry  in 
topics  of  debatable  form  have  been  reached,  there 
is  no  reason  why  a  student  should  not  find  the  card 
catalog  of  subjects  self -interpreting,  inclusive, 
useful.  It  has  the  all-important  merit  of  definite- 
ness  and  point.  It  tells  anyone  who  knows  his 
topic  what  he  can  get  directly  on  it.  It  lists  both 
the  obsolete  book  and  the  dead  and  gone  state  by 


SUBJECT  HEADINGS  145 

themselves.  It  opens  up  to  the  reader  the  contents 
of  the  library.  It  is,  in  short,  an  alphabetical  sub- 
ject index  to  the  books.  If  this  is  not  worth  while, 
what  library  effort  is?  If  this  be  formal,  dry-as- 
dust  work,  why  work  with  books  at  all?  Our  aim 
as  librarians  is  not  merely  to  accumulate  books.  It 
is  to  help  the  reader  to  the  books  he  wants.  In  a 
large  library  the  only  tool  which  accomplishes  this 
result  is  the  catalog,  and  of  this  the  subject  catalog 
is  the  part  most  difficult  to  make,  most  useful  when 
well  made. 


INDEX 


Accuracy,  in  cataloging,  57. 

Added  entries,  103. 

Alphabetic-classed  catalog,  45-47. 

American  Library  Association. 
Booklist,  68;  Catalog  rules,  39,  51, 
64,  76,  79,  80,  91;  Cat.  rules  com- 
mittee, 36;  List  of  subject  head- 
ings, 84,  112,  123,  144;  Publishing 
Board,  17. 

Analytical  cards,  101-102. 

Ancient  names  of  modern  countries, 
132,  137. 

Annotation,  97-99. 

Aristotle,  140. 

Arrangement  (of  cards),  alphabeti- 
cal, 40,  41,  47,  109;  non-alphabeti- 
cal, 110,  141-142. 

Astor  Library,  New  York,  Cat.  13. 

Austin,  Willard  H.  Report  on  aids 
and  guides,  27. 

Author's  name  in  title,  91. 

Becker,  Gustav.    Catalogi  bibl.  anti- 

qui,  11. 
Berlin.    Konigl.  Bibliothek,  29,  74. 
Bibliographies  in  card  form,  27. 
Biblioth6que    Nationale    (France), 

Cat.  ghi.  d.  livres  imprimes,  13. 
Bond,  H.    Classified  vs.  diet,  cat.,  45. 
Boston  Athenaeum.    Cat.,  13. 
Boston  Public  Library,  74. 
British    Museum.    Cat.    of   printed 

books,  13,  47,  101. 

Subject  Index,  123. 
Brooklyn  Library.    Cat.,  14. 
Brown,    J.    D.    Library    class,    and 

cat., 81. 


Card  cases,  25,  28. 

Card  catalog,  a  development  of  the 
19th  cent.,  15;  variant  forma  of 
cards  in  manuscript  cat.,  15. 

Cards,  ruling,  30;  size,  28,  64;  weight 
and  quality,  29,  30. 

Catalogers,  Reports  (individual), 
54,  55. 

Catalogers  in  reference  work,  41,  62. 

Cataloging,  should  precede  acces- 
sioning, etc.,  56. 

Cataloging  force,  organization,  50- 
57. 

Cataloging  rooms,  19-28;  space  al- 
lotted to,  19,  20;  location,  20;  floor 
plan,  21;  furniture,  etc.,  22-24. 

Catalogs.  Cost,  34,  49,  55-57;  forms, 
40-46;  full  or  short,  36-38;  history, 
11-18;  number  and  kinds,  33-35. 

Catalogs  in  book  forms,  12-14. 

Classed  catalog,  42-45;  index  there- 
to, 44. 

Concilium  Bibliographicum,  ZUrich, 
29. 

Codes  of  cataloging  rules.  See  A. 
L.  A.  Catalog  Rules;  Cutter,  C.  A. 
Rules;  Dewey,  Melvil,  Library 
School  Rules,  etc. 

Collation,  39,  94. 

Contents  note,  96. 

Continents,  subject  headings,  130. 

Copying,  105-107. 

Cumulative  book  index,  68. 

Cutter,   Charles  Ammi.    Rules  for 
a  diet,  cat.,  i2,  78.80,111,  129. 
Why  and  how  a  diet.  cat.  is  made,  42. 


147 


148 


INDEX 


Date  and  place  of  publication,  not 
to  be  omitted,  93. 

Desks,  21,  22. 

Detroit  Public  Library.    Cat.,  14. 

Decisions  to  be  recorded,  81,  82. 

Dewey,  Melvil.  Library  school  rules, 
78,  80. 

Dictionary  catalog,  40-41,  48;  supple- 
mented by  class-lists,  etc.,  48. 

Doubleday,  W.  E.    Class  lists,  42. 


Inversion  in  subject  headings,  128- 
129. 

Jahr,  Torstein  and  Strohm,  A.  J. 

Bibl.  of  cooperative  cataloguing,  17. 
Jewett,    Charles    Coffin.    Plan   for 

stereotyping   cat.,  16;    Construction 

of  cat.  of  libraries,  17. 
John  Crerar  Library.    Catalog,  48; 

prints  cards,  74. 


Edition,  92. 

Egypt,  subject  heading,  134. 
Encyclopaedias  as  models  for  sub- 
ject headings,  117. 
Evaluation,  97-99. 
Eye-strain,  23. 

Fletcher,  W.  I.    Future  of  the  cat.,  45. 

Flexotype,  24,  52,  107. 

Filing  cards,  108-110. 

Full  names,  38. 

Fumagalli,  Giuseppe.    Cat.dibiblio- 

teche,  78. 
Furniture  of  cataloging  rooms,  22. 

Guide  cards,  31,  109,  110,  119,  120. 

Hague.    Royal  Library,  74. 

Harvard  Univ.  Library,  74. 

Hastings,  Charles  H.  L.  C.  printed 
cards,  65. 

Head  cataloger,  duties,  50,  51,  53,  87. 

Hectograph,  105. 

Hours  (cataloging  work),  62 

Hulme,  E.  W.  Diet,  subject  catalog- 
ing, 42. 

lies,  George.    Biir.  of  review,  97. 
Imprint,  92. 
Ink,  107. 

Instructionen  fur  d.  alphab.  kat.  d. 
preusz.  bibl.,  79. 


Kant,  I.,  140. 

Kroeger,  A.  B.  Diet.  cat.  vs.  bibliogr., 
42. 

Ledger  catalogs,  12. 

Library  Bureau,  17. 

Library  of  Congress.  Annual  re- 
port, 1902, 17;  1905, 30;  Cat. o/Copi/- 
right  entries,  68;  Handbook  of  card 
distribution,  65,  77;  List  of  subject 
headings,  84,  112,  144;  Monthly 
list  of  state  pub.,  68;  printed  cat- 
alog cards,  17,  18,  28,  29,  64-77, 
79, 83, 89;  accounting,  70;  authority 
in  determining  entry,  51;  number 
needed,  65;  ordering,  66-72;  scope 
of  stock,  72-73; supplemental  rules, 
80;  use  in  other  libraries,  75,  76; 
proofsheets  of  cat.  cards,  27,  28, 
39,  67,  89. 

Library  schools,  60. 

Linderfelt,  Klas  August.  Eclectic 
card  cat.  rules,  78. 

Main  entry,  88,  89. 

Massachusetts  Record  Commission, 

107. 
Multigraph,  106. 

New  South  Wales.  Public  library, 
Sydney.     Guide  to  system  of  cat.. 


INDEX 


149 


New  York  Public  Libra^J^  74. 
New     York     State     Library.    Cat. 

reference  books,  26. 
Notes,  92,  95,  96. 

Official  catalog,  35,  82. 

Peabody  Institute  Library,  Balti- 
more.   Cat.,  13,  101. 

Period  divisions,  subject  headings, 
134-136. 

Perkins,  Frederic  Beecher.  San 
Francisco  cat.,  79. 

Photoduplication  of  title  page,  52, 
108. 

Pittsburgh  Carnegie  Library.  Clas- 
sified Cat.,  14;  prints  cards,  74. 

Pollard,  A.  VV.,  42.  Meditations  on 
directories,  etc.,  45. 

Princeton  University  Library,  45, 
142. 

Printed  catalog  cards.  Earlj'  theo- 
ries, 16,  17;  file  of,  in  library,  39, 
83;  Library  of  Congress  makes 
and  sells,  17, 18;  printed  by  Ameri- 
can libraries,  74;  use  of ,  in  libra- 
ries, 63-77;  use  in  conjunction 
with  ms  cards,  37,  83. 

Qualifications  of  catalogers,  57-60; 

accuracy,    57;   linguistic    ability, 

58;  general  information,  59. 
Quinn,  John  Henry.    Diet.  vs.  class. 

cat.,   45;   Manual  of  library   cat., 

79,81. 
Quintilian,  11. 

Raney,  M.  L.    Multigraph  and  flexo- 

type  in  cat.  work,  106. 
Reference  books  for  catalogers,  26. 
Reference  cards,  104. 
Revision  of  cataloging,  51,  52,  54,  76. 
Rome,  subject  heading,  136. 


Salaries  of  catalogers,  61-62. 

Savage,  Ernest  Albert.  Manual  of 
descriptive  annotation,  97. 

"See  also"  references,  133. 

Series  cards,  99-100. 

Shelf-list,  33,  42,  43,  48. 

Spain.  Instruc,  para  la  redaccidn 
de  las  cat.,  79. 

Statistics  of  cataloging  work,  53-54. 

Strohm,  Adam  Julius,  17. 

Subject  cards,  number  to  a  book, 
142. 

Subject  catalog,  kept  separate  from 
author  catalog,  47. 

Subject  headings:  changes  in,  116; 
class  headings,  118-119;  definition 
of,  85-116;  ethnic  adjective,  125- 
127;  geographical  headings,  130- 
133,  134-138;  Inversion,  128-129; 
literary  form  headings,  121;  offi- 
cial list  of,  84-86,  143-144;  old 
and  modern  books  on  same  sub- 
ject, 138-142;  passed  on  by  head 
cataloger,  51;  period  division,  134- 
136;  simplicity,  114;  specific,  118, 
120, 142;  subject  or  region,  122-125; 
uniformity,  113,  115. 

Title,  90. 

Title  entry,  104. 

Typewriters,  use  of,  23,  107. 

Uniformity  of  entry  in  various  rec- 
ords, 34,  56,  82. 

"Unit  card"  system,  34,  86. 

U.  S.  Bur.  of  Education.  Library,  74. 

U.  S.  Bur.  of  Fisheries.    Library,  74. 

U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture.  Library, 
74. 

v.  S.  Geological  Survey,  74. 

U.  S.  Surgeon-General's  Library, 
Index-Cat.,  14,  129. 

United  States  Catalog,  1912,  68. 


150  INDEX 


University  of  Chicago,  Library,  74.  Vienna  University.    Kat.  d.  Hand- 

bibl,  27. 
Vienna.    Hofbibliothek.    Vorschrift. 
d.  alphabet,    nominal-settelkat.,  79.        Wilson  (H.  W.)  Co.,  68. 


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